We Are The Forbidden Ones
by Zenthian
Summary: Thomas Fairway, the Son of Tartarus, has lived his whole life in secret from Both Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter. From Olympus in general. the only one who acknowledge him are the monsters he fights. But one day, the Titan Prometheus offers him a chance at helping others like him, demigods who would be killed by the gods. War is coming and Thomas's band of demigods must stop it.
1. Chapter 1

I was not having a good day.

I'm sorry let me back up. My name is Thomas Fairway, and I have been wondering all of my life where I belonged. It was a hard question for me. When I was six, my mom died of cancer leaving me to the world of the foster system. Not fun at all. I had no idea who my dad was till I was twelve and when I found out, my life only got harder.

See, when you are a demigod, half human, half god; monsters attacked you just for being that. Monsters hate, sorry loathe demigod guts religiously and will fight for the sake of fighting demigods. Well, demigods have a powerful aura that attracts monsters, and when you accept being a demigod, it only gets stronger.

For me, it was a bit different. At first they were just scared of my father, but eventually they got over that. I had to learn to fight, and fast. And plus, I was on my own.

I know what you are thinking right now, why didn't I go Camp Half Blood or Camp Jupiter, where I would be safe? If you are a Son of Zeus or Vulcan or Hecate, by all means, go there, it would be safe for you. For me, that's like walking into a death trap.

For four years, I have been living under the threat of both Monsters and Olympus. My heritage made me a target. And you are saying, well, who is your dad? Well, I am the son of Tartarus, the ancient god of the abyss and storms.

Today, I was getting double teamed. And that was only the start of it.

I was camping peacefully in the Yellowstone national forest under the canopy of pines. Well as peaceful as you can get for a homeless demigod. I left the foster home I was staying at in Denver three years ago because of a certain number of accusations that were not my fault. Seriously, I didn't destroy half of the local high school that was a monster who did that.

Anyway I was just putting out my fire so the rangers wouldn't spot me, when in the distance I heard a snort like a bulls. Instinctively I flattened on the ground, reaching for the pouch that hung around my neck. After a while, all I heard was the birds. Then over the ridge, I could see a herd of buffalo roaming around the plain. I mentally cursed myself and rolled over gazing at the sky.

The sun had risen only a few hours before hand. I sat there for a while, looking at the August sky, thinking to myself. _Can you see me Zeus? Do you wonder if I am a threat? Maybe I am, maybe I'm not, but let's not found out about me, shall we? I really hate to be a crispy spot on the ground anytime soon._

I continued staring for a moment and decided it was time to go. Couldn't stay in Yellowstone for the winter with only minimal clothes and a light sleeping. I decided Miami sounded nice and warm this time of year. I like warm. Warm is good.

Breaking camp wasn't hard when your tent was a single and everything you owned went into a camping backpack. I had set my pack up against a tree and was checking my supplies when the snort sounded a second time, this time infinitely closer.

I dared to look behind me, hand already at the pouch necklace. I turned and saw a figure around what I had feared. Standing only a few meters away was the Minotaur, the half bull and half man killing machine. And he wasn't alone. Next to him was one of the largest bulls I have ever seen, with soft looking white fur, large glistening silver horns, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Minotaur and a murderous gleam in his eyes. I had studied up on my Greek mythology when I was Brooklyn a few years back to know that this wasn't an ordinary monster bull. It was the Cretan Bull, the father of the Minotaur, sent by Poseidon when King Minos of Crete asked for a worthy sacrifice to the god. Unfortunately, the king didn't kill it and Poseidon drove it into a mad.

My brain kicked in to goofball mode, which it always did before a battle. "Well hey, guys" I waved, drawing a dice from my pouch. I didn't look to see which one I had drawn. I stupidly waved and smiled weakly at the pair. Like I was hoping that they would just pass me by. "Out for a lovely father-son walk?"

The Minotaur snorted loudly and drew his axe from behind his back. The Cretan Bull scrapped a hoof against the ground, kicking up dirt.

"No?" I rolled the dice in my hand "well let's get on with it."

Apparently the Minotaur understood that much, because he gave a defiant roar and charged, axe raised over his head. Quickly I sidestepped put out of his path, dodging his axe and let my dice fly somewhere on the ground. The Minotaur stumbled when his axe missed and tripped, flying into a tree.

I rolled to the ground and saw what side my dice had landed on. I carried two magic dice; each side has a picture of a different monster, Drakon, ventus, Sea serpent, fire breathing horse. Whatever side it lands with pointing up, I turn into. Today, it landed with the spartus picture pointing up, my favorite battle form.

I felt my body sudden warp and dissolve away, like something was painlessly eating away at me till I was barely a skeletal warrior. My muscles and bone turned to grey. Then the spartus killer mind kicked in. See, Spartoi, plural for spartus, only thoughts are to kill for their master, and if they have no master, they kill randomly. But today I was in control, and that was because of a lot practice earlier.

I felt fearless, invincible and had a craving for battle. My awareness went through the roof and I was ready to lay down the pain train. The Cretan bull lowered its head and charged. I charged back, grabbing a sharp pointed rock from the forest pine floor.

As soon as the Bull was only a foot away, I somersaulted over it with my inhuman strength and skills. The Cretan Bull incredibly hard head crashed through a thick pine tree like it was made out of paper. The entire tree crashed into the ground, making the earth rumble.

The Minotaur had recovered from its fall and attacked, swinging its axe with wide strikes. I focused on the Minotaur, ducking under its blows and stabbing him with my rock, however pathetic that just sounded. The Minotaur roared in pain with each cut but did not give up. He was slowing down.

Unfortunately I was ignoring my spartus spider sense, focused so entirely on the final strike I was about to deliver, that when Cretan Bull hit us at full ramming speed, I nearly was broken in half.

The force of the impact was like getting hit with Jumbo Jet at Mach 1, I flew through the air a couple hundred feet on a stone outlook, nearly rolling off rocky cliff and down to my death as a pancake. The only thing that save me was the fact the spartus was mainly undead. What was worse was that the power that made me a spartus drained out of me, returning back to my regular form. I felt the warm weight of the dice that I threw reform in my pouch.

Well, this sucked. In distance, I heard the rumbling of both the Cretan Bull and the Minotaur were charging at me together and my dice need time to recharge before I could use it again.

I rose to my feet. Come on. I was a son of Tartarus. Monsters were supposed to be nothing to me. The Cretan Bull and the Minotaur were getting closer. I looked back at the cliff behind and smiled, a plan forming in my mind.

I planted my feet sternly on the ground and I called upon the powers of the storm, of my Father, to aid me. Unlike normal storms, Tartarus storms are like a vacuum. I felt the familiar surge of emptiness inside of me, like all my organs were being sucked into my stomach.

Just then, my least favorite father son duo crashed through the tree line, galloping at half speed so they wouldn't go off the cliff. I thrust out my hands, feeling the powers of wind funnel around me. Small rocks and twigs flew past me. As my storm grew stronger, large loose branches started to sail by.

As soon as they realized what was happening, the Cretan Bull and Minotaur tried to reverse their course, but the vacuum effect was too strong. The Minotaur's axe whirled past, nearly taking off my head. The Cretan Bull collapsed on his side, my winds dragging him to me. The Minotaur tried to hold on for dear life to a root but the root snapped, sending the Minotaur flying. His father went airborne as well, twisting in the air and giving out sad moos of fear.

I dropped to the ground, both cow monsters sailing over head. The storm funneled out just over the edge of the cliff. All I heard was one last roar of fury as the Minotaur and the Cretan Bull plummeted to their deaths.

I slowly rose to my feet, the pain from my flight, courtesy of Cretan Bull Airlines, kicking in. I limped to cliff's edge and looked over. At the bottom, amidst rocks and broken branches, laid a bleach white bull skull with silver horns and an ax, blade implanted in the earth.

I laughed for some reason and decided to limp back to the campsite. I popped some ambrosia I had stolen from a regular demigod back in San Fran. To me, it tasted like every warm baked home meal I was missing. Instantly my pain subsided and my limp went back to a walk.

It took me over an hour to find where I had camped, but when I got there, someone was waiting for me. Two people actually.

The first was a middle aged man sitting on the tree the Cretan Bull knocked over. I first thought he was one of the Native Americans from around here when I saw his deeply tan skin and jet black hair tied into a ponytail. He wore an expensive looking white shirt and black pinstriped tie with blue jeans and hiking boots. What I noticed the most were the several scar that were raked against his face.

The other one was the most scared girl I have ever met. She looked seriously lost and the frightened look in her silver eyes didn't help. She had frizzy long brown hair that hadn't been combed and slim cheerleaders figure. She wore a simple black jacket and jeans. When she saw me her eyes lit up but then deflated when she saw that her companion had also looked like he was expecting me.

Cautiously, I approached. They didn't look like monsters but then again, I met a girl before that nearly sucked out all my blood and she looked human to me.

"Who are you?" I asked, hand over my pouch. "What do you want?"

The man laughed like something I did was funny. "Please, Mr. Fairway, no need to use the Dice of Typhon right now. You must be exhausted after your battle. Please come seat, I have a proposal for you." He said.

How did he now I had the Dice of Typhon on me? "Are you a god?" I asked, more defiantly.

The man smiled. "No, a Titan actually. I am Prometheus." He gestured to the girl. "This is Bella, she is a demigod."

Ok, she was demigod, so what? What was she doing here? Bella kept her eyes glued to the floor. "Why isn't she at the camps like a normal Demigod?"

Prometheus looked turned sympathetic. "Because, like you, Son of Tartarus, she is a forbidden child. She is the Daughter of Artemis."

A daughter of Artemis, the maiden goddess of the hunt and the moon? Officially my interest was peaked at the prospects of this information. "Why are you telling me this?"

A gleam appeared in Prometheus, like the kind you get when you are about say something powerful our brilliant. "Because, I want you to protect her, to protect them all. There are more like you, Thomas, more demigods of the ancient and the dangerous. Zeus would kill you all if he knew. And soon he will but you can stop that before it's too late. You can save them all."

With all of what he just said, I focused on why me. Kind of dumb right, but then again the thought of not being alone had changed something in me. A small flutter of hope. But I had to ask "why? Why me? Why are you doing this?"

Prometheus looked turned mournful "For the same reason you care those Dice. And why you? Because I am the Titan of Forethought remember? You are the best one for the job. And we must hurry, before all of Olympus bears down on us."


	2. Chapter 2

My full name is Bellerophon Artices, but since Bellerophon is hard to pronounce, people just call me Bella. My dad always told me I had the name of ancient Greek hero, that it means Wielder of Missiles, which really confused me when he said it had a deeper meaning than I realized. I never seem to wield any highly explosive missiles but I was a good shot with pretty much anything.

My dad said my mom had named me that the day she gave me to him and that was all he would say of here, no matter how much I begged. He always said it was too dangerous for me to know that. I mean I love my dad and all, but I do have know at least who my mother is. I did found that out, all the day I was kidnapped.

Ok, kidnapped was my first impression. When I saw the man with sly smile sitting on a fallen tree and realized I was not in Los Angeles anymore, I sort of freaked out. I know I went to bed in my home, but had no idea how I ended up in a forest.

The sun was in approaching midday. That was the first thing I noticed. Not where am I, or what happened, but hey it's almost noon. I rose to my feet, still groggy from just waking up but adrenaline kicked in fast. Fear of the unknown came over me. I had no idea where I was or who the guy was next to me.

The man saw me wake up. "Morning sunshine, or should that moonshine?" he greeted, somewhat friendly.

"Where am I?" I asked, backing away from him. Suddenly I tripped, falling flat on my butt.

The man smiled. "We are in Yellowstone national park, Bellerophon. Or do you prefer Bella?"

What he said almost overwhelmed me. He knew my name, my full name, which was only on my birth certificate. I came to one conclusion. "You...You kidnapped me!"

The man frowned. "I did not! I only removed you from danger. There was nasty looking giant boar only a few blocks away."

What he said made no sense. Just then instinct took over and I ran for it. I smiled knowing no one could run as fast me. Well maybe my dad, but after all it is the family gift. I ran as fast as the wind, the world transformed into a blur. I laughed, thinking how silly it was for that guy not to tie me up.

Then I understood why he didn't even move. A figure appeared in the distance. I slowed down, hoping it was someone to call for help but instead it was him, looking strangely proud and amused at me. I split off to the right, leaving dust in my wake. But no more than a minute he was in front of me again. I did a one eighty, but he appeared in front of me again!

"How, what just... Who are you?!" I screamed, frustrated.

"My name is Prometheus." He replied, grabbing my arm and leading me back to where we came. "Come on, there is someone back up there I want you to meet. But I see you are using the gift of Damysus well."

"The gift of what?" I asked, pounding on his arm.

"The gift of Damysus. He was a Giant, the fastest of the Giants. When he died, the centaur Chiron placed his speed into your ancestor, Achilles. And today his descendents can use his speed, although you are must faster than he ever was." Prometheus explained. "Your father is the same, but you, you are the fastest I have ever seen."

"How do you know so much about me?" I seethed at him, angry my escape attempt failed.

"I know more than you know. I know who your mother is." That stopped me cold in my tracks. I stopped hitting, my blood chilling in my veins.

"You know who my mom is?!" I was angry that a stranger knew more about where I came from than I did. "Who are you?"

Prometheus laughed. "I told you, I am Prometheus, a Titan. You have heard of the Titans?"

I remembered something about them when researched my name, Bellerophon. "Wait, are you a Greek god?"

"Not quite, but close. I am cousins with Zeus." For some reason I believed him. Well a lot of it made sense, like my Greek name and I knew that I was descended from Achilles, who was also Greek.

"So, who is my mother?"

"Artemis, the Goddess of Hunt and the moon." Prometheus said, looking around as if to make sure no one heard him.

"Wait my mother is a Goddess?" I asked.

"Yes, that makes you what we call a demigod, or half-blood." The rest of hike, Prometheus explained everything I needed to know about the Greek gods, monsters and the Two Camps where most demigods go when to train to fight monsters.

"Wait, why am I where?" I asked, confused on the whole wilderness excursion. "Why didn't you send to Camp Half Blood or something?"

Prometheus gave me a sad look, like he felt sorry for me. "Bella, you are what we call a forbidden demigod. Your mother, Artemis, swore never to have children or fall in love. Only twice has she broken that vow, your father is one of them. Other was a hunter named Orion. Forbidden demigods are the outcasts and hated of the demigod world, children of the primeval gods, Titans and maiden goddess. If Zeus knew you were alive, he would kill you himself."

I looked at the sky in fear. Was he watching us, ready to strike? "Why does he hate kids like me?"

"Out of pride, mainly. Ah, here we are." It took about forty minutes but we arrived at the spot where I had woke up. Prometheus sat back down at the tree.

Everything he told me scared me. I did not want to be killed by an angry god who turned out to be my grandfather.

Out in the distance, an angry roar echoed through the trees. I jumped, scared that something was coming to get me. I looked over at Prometheus, who didn't seem worried.

We waited for what felt like an eternity. My mind began to question everything I had just learned. What if this Prometheus was lying? What if I was dreaming? I saw someone heading towards through the trees. I perked up, hoping it was a rescue and I could return to reality. I looked over at Prometheus and instantly all my hope was gone. This was the guy Prometheus was waiting for.

He looked like a homeless teenage boy my age, with wild black hair and a tired look in his eyes. He wore torn up jeans, an orange vest and flannel shirt and a gold pouch around his neck. As soon as he saw us, he was suspicious. His hand went for the pouch immediately. I guess he wasn't expecting us either.

"Who are you?"He barked harshly, like he was challenging us "What do you want?"

Prometheus laughed. "Please, Mr. Fairway, no need to use the Dice of Typhon right now. You must be exhausted after your battle. Please come seat, I have a proposal for you." He said.

Wait, this kid, Fairway, was in a battle? With what? My mind went back to the roar I heard earlier "Are you a god?" So he knew of Greek gods as well.

Prometheus smiled at being called a god. "No, a Titan actually. I am Prometheus." He pointed at me. "This is Bella, she is a demigod."

Was this the guy Prometheus wanted me to meet? But apparently he had the same question about the Camps I had earlier. "Why isn't she at the camps like a normal Demigod?"

Prometheus looked turned sympathetic at the two of us. "Because, like you, Son of Tartarus, she is a forbidden child. She is the Daughter of Artemis."

Fairway lowered his hand from his pouch and huffed. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, I want you to protect her, to protect them all. There are more like you, Thomas, more demigods of the ancient and the dangerous. Zeus would kill you all if he knew. And soon he will but you can stop that before it's too late. You can save them all." Prometheus issued. This guy was to protect me? I had no idea who Tartarus was but just hearing made me quiver.

Something changed in his appearance. He stood up straighter; his face went from cautious to curious. "Why? Why me? Why are you doing this?"

Prometheus looked turned mournful, like that of a painful memory. "For the same reason you care those Dice. And why you? Because I am the Titan of Forethought remember? You are the best one for the job. And we must hurry, before all of Olympus bears down on us."

The few seconds of silence was so tense that nothing dared to move. Then, Fairway, Thomas, grabbed his camping backpack and slung it over his shoulder. "I may be the Son of Tartarus, but I ain't no hero." He said, starting to walk off.

"What about Cara?" Prometheus called back. Thomas stopped dead in his tracks and turned around, his face contorted in anger.

"Don't you dare bring her into this!" he yelled. "That is not an acceptable reason for calling me a hero!"

"If it hadn't been for you, the world would have been ashes by now." Prometheus replied. I really need a guide book on what the hell is happening. "You carry those Dice to remind yourself that you can't just be who your parents want us to be. That makes you a hero."

The anger melted form Thomas into sadness, a tear running down his face. "Cara died because of me. I am no hero. A true hero would have saved her."

"On the contrary, you made the sacrifice of a true hero. I need you to do this for me. So what happened to Cara won't happen again, what happened to my children won't happen again." Prometheus exclaimed.

It was my turn to talk. "Your children?"

"Yes, Bella. I had children, triplets with a mortal woman. When Zeus learned of their existence, when I tried to get them to Camp Half-Blood, he had them killed before they ever made it." I actually felt sorry for Prometheus. He lost his kids and now I guess he was trying to stop that from happening to any other children.

"So, even if I accept to help you, what do want me to do?" Thomas asked, more concerned now.

Prometheus nodded. "There needs to be a third Camp. A camp for children of Titans and ancient gods like yourself. A camp where they will be safe, where they can train to protect themselves. Actually more like a school."

Thomas shrugged "Ok, what? Do you want me to train them, to start up this school?"

Prometheus laughed again. "No Thomas, not quite yet. I have set aside a location in Montana that the Olympians don't know about. But Zeus watches my every move, and it's hard enough to be here without him seeing me. I need you and Bella both to gather the rest of the materials. The students, the teachers, the trainers."

I was a bit shocked on what he was asking. I mean, I didn't even know how to fight, let alone teach others. "How do except us to do this? I am just new to all of this!"

Prometheus nodded. "Don't worry you will get it. And you will need this, Bella."

Prometheus snapped his fingers and a bright sliver bow appeared in his hand. He hand the bow to me. I have shot a bow before and never missed my target. I just figured it was combo of luck and skill but now knowing that my Mother was Artemis, I figured it was genetic. Instinctively I pulled the bow back, an arrow made of a sliver light sudden appeared, knocked in the bow. I let it fly, splitting a falling leaf in half.

Thomas looked impressed. "A true daughter of Artemis. So, Prometheus, you have my attention and some of my cooperation. I am only doing this because of Cara, and your children."

Prometheus clapped his hands "Excellent! I will start locating students for you to find but first you need a few teachers, especially a headmaster and I know the perfect one. He may look funny but you will find him doing what he did in the old day teaching."

"Who is he?" Thomas asked.

"His name is Cecrops the First and I believe he is still teaching at Harvard these days." Prometheus answered. "But he is quite sensitive about his tail, so do not mock it."

Just then, the Titan disappeared in a flash of light, the only thing in his place was a brown paper bag.

"Did seriously just happen?" I asked, still holding my silver bow.

"welcome to my world" Thomas said. He extended his hand and I shook it. "Thomas Fairway."

"Bella Artices." I properly greeted.

Thomas picked up the paper bag and checks its contents. "Some cash, a few golden drachmas and two tickets." He pulled out the tickets. They were for a bus leaving from a town called Cody. The bus went straight to Boston.

"We better get going. The bus departs in a few hours." He said. He pulled out a dice from his pouch, one of the Dice of Typhon, and rolled it. It landed on a picture of a winged horse with ram horns pointing up. Suddenly the dice disappeared into a fine mist and Thomas's body began to change, growing larger and wider till he was a large brown Pegasus with glossy curved ram horns.

Thomas looked at me with his horse eyes. "You coming?" he said, somehow speaking with a horse's mouth.

I rolled my eyes, slung the bow over my back, climbed up on his back and held onto his mane for dear life. With a loud neigh, Thomas took off into the air and rose into the sky. Our adventure had begun


	3. Chapter 3

Bella

We arrived in Boston nearly a day later. I had asked Thomas why we hadn't taken a plane; he said that we would be in Zeus territory, which would be bad. So we had taken the slow twenty three hour bus ride all the way there.

Thomas filled me in on all the little things a demigod should know, like the Mist, Iris Messages and Celestial bronze. He explained that my bow, which had collapsed into bracelet that hung on my wrist, was made from Lunar Silver, which was used exclusively by my mom and her Hunters. I tried to pry at him on his life that Prometheus had mentioned but that he wouldn't answer. He turned tight lipped about that.

Once we arrived at Boston, the first thing we did was check into a small hotel with the money Prometheus left us, and cleaned up, which Thomas really needed. After we finished that, Thomas ushered me out of the hotel.

"Where are we going?" I pestered him. I learned on the Bus ride Thomas only answered questions if you directly asked him. Other than that, he was didn't talk much. Thomas seemed a bit walled off, like he stuck in bad memory.

"The library." He snapped back, pushing through a crowd of people. "We need to research where this Cecrops might be hiding."

"Ok." I knew enough be now to recognize the tone he made before he goes silent. We walked the rest of the way in silence, pushing downtown through busy cars and peoples as evening approached Manhattan.

A mile later, we arrived at the library. The woman at the front desk waved at us and I waved back. Thomas ignored her and straight for the computer section

"Keep an eye out." He said, pulling up a chair. He immediately began googling Harvard professors.

"What?" I asked. "Why? What are you doing?"

"Technology and Demigods never had mixed. It's like sending out your GPS coordinates for monster to come get you." He explained, browsing through the profiles. "And like I said, if Prometheus wants us to find Cecrops, we need to find him. I doubt he is using his real name to teach at Harvard."

I pulled up a chair next to him. "No you didn't say anything at all. You went quiet on me again." Thomas gave me a stern glare. I decided to switch gears. "Allright, fine. What do you know about him?"

"Not much, only that he was the first king of Athens. He taught the Athenians reading and writing so I believe he might still be doing that." He clicked on those who taught Greek and Latin, nine teachers in total.

"Wait, how is he still alive?" I said. Then I remembered the whole archeforce types. "He's a kind of monster. That's why Prometheus said don't mention the tail."

Thomas nodded, bit more open and excited than before. "That's right! Cecrops had the lower half of a serpent because he was a son of Gaia! Even with the Mist, that is something you have to hide! I know that Chiron uses a wheelchair to hide his horse half, maybe Cecrops does the same."

"Professor Athene? Seriously?" Thomas clicked on the profile of the only Greek teacher that was disabled, Professor Charles Athene. Charles Athene was around forty, a full trimmed black beard and deep brown eyes with an olive tan.

"Oh, I get." Thomas chuckled, solving his puzzle and leaving me in the dark. He saw my look of confusion and explained "The goddess Athena was his patron. It's why he named the city Athens." He continued reading. "Gives his schedule out. Says he will have a free time tomorrow around ten."

"Does it say where he lives?" I asked.

Thomas kept scrolling through the information. "No, I believe that would be a closely guarded secret with monsters. We are going to have to visit him at ten tomorrow. Come on, let's get go back to the hotel."

Thomas closed the browser and we left for the hotel. Night had fallen already but Boston was no quieter. People, mainly college aged students, headed in varying directions, more than likely out to party. As we walked back, Thomas kept looking over his shoulder. I did too, but I did not see what he saw apparently.

"Nuts, Cyclops." He cursed under his breath. He grabbed my wrist and dropped some leaves on the ground. "Mint" he explained "Messes with a Cyclops nose."

But apparently that did not mean we were in the clear. Thomas hurried my down the street, and decided to cut through a park that was in total darkness. Then the dark light up in a strange dim silver light. I looked up to see a crescent moon peak out from behind some clouds. I figured this new skill had something to do with being a daughter of Artemis.

Thomas stopped in the middle of the park "I don't think they followed us." He said. "Drats, and I chose to go through here in case they did."

"Why?" I questioned.

"Less people get hurt and I can use one of my monster forms more effectively than in the street." He explained. I guess he was right. If you couldn't out run your enemy, lead them into a trap. Thomas frowned. "But it was only two of them, I expected at least more than that."

No sooner than he said that, something whistled past my left shoulder and stuck Thomas in his thigh. "OW!" he cursed, pulling what looked like a small red knife blade a small white handle. I looked closer at it.

"Is that a feather?" I asked. It was red feather with steel like edges. I flipped my bracelet off my wrist, transforming it into a bow. I scanned the area for what threw it but saw nothing. Thomas fell on his butt, trying to stop the bleeding. He popped a small bronze brownie, ambrosia I believe, in his mouth. The bleeding lessened.

"What was it?" I asked, still looking for what shoot the bladed feather

"Don't know." He replied, slowing rising to his feet. "Out of every monster in the world, I get hit by a feather!"

"Is it gone?" my answer came in the form of another feather that impaled itself in the back of the calf of Thomas's other leg.

"Ow! Come on!" Thomas loathed yanking out the other feather. Gazing ahead, I finally saw what it was. Above us was a red hawk with a bushy tail full of more bladed feathers. In the distance, I could make out a huge flock, several dozen or so, were heading our way.

The first bird gave sharp cry and swooped in for another pass. I drew back my bow and fired. The bird busted into golden dust. I took aim at the flock and fired around a dozen or so arrows, each on hitting their mark. It wasn't enough, because soon the flock was overheard, letting loose a volley of deadly feathers.

Thomas grabbed me by the shoulders and we ran for cover, feathers falling all around us. The first one must have bent he marksmen of the flock because the rest of the birds didn't have good aim.

I bolted for the nearest cover, one of those metal playgrounds kids played on. It had four tower like spires connect by walkways and slides. I slid under the main spire, feathers pinging off the overhead metal. A few pierced the ground near me, almost underneath the spire. I saw Thomas running as fast as he could, arrows slicing up his body. I fired my bow at several of the feathers falling around Thomas, my incredible aim hitting their mark.

Thomas went into a baseball slide and skidded under the spire, leaving a trail of blood and dirt in his wake. More sharp feathers feel where he had just been.

"You ok?" I asked Thomas.

He nodded, coughing out some blood. "Yeah Prometheus gave us some Ambrosia and Nectar, so I will heal. But we are sitting ducks in here."

"What are the things?!" I fired two more arrows and two more birds became a shower of dust.

"Arean Birds, arrow shooting birds. Jason encountered them on his journey." Thomas answered, popping some ambrosia.

"How did he deal with them?" I wasn't going to sit here and wait to be shredded. I knocked some of the feathers out of the sky with my arrows but there were too many to deal with all of them.

"The same way Hercules dealt with the Stymphalian Birds. He used loud noises. There!" Thomas pointed at a parking lot with a few cars still in it. "Think you can sit off the car alarms?"

"Watch me." I willed the bow to make three arrows simultaneously and it obeyed. I released, each moonlight arrow piercing through the windows, setting off the car alarms. The alarms honked and bleeped out in the semi quiet night. I peeked out and true enough, these Arean Birds were flapping in the other direction, frightened by all the noise. They didn't turn around.

Thomas and I hauled ourselves out from under the playground. "Is it always like this?" I huffed, transforming my bow into a bracelet once again.

Thomas sprang to his feet and winced, his wounds not quite healed yet. "Yep, let's get out of here before something tougher shows up"

That was all the motivation I needed and the two of us fled back to the hotel, never looking back.


	4. Chapter 4

_The Zenthian here! I need help! i have list of Forbidden demigods but if there are any others you think of please PM me! I will be eternally grateful._

_Forbidden Demigod parents:_

_Tartarus, Typhon, Artemis, Prometheus, Kronos, Hyperion, Iapetus, Koios, Krios, Nyx, Gaia,Thanatos, Chaos, Oceanus, Keto, Phorcys, Styx and Hestia._

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><p>Thomas<p>

The dawn sun peaked over the Boston skyline. It was mid morning at Harvard, where Bella and I sat on the front steps of one Harvard's many buildings, waiting for Cecrops, or Professor Athene's class to let out. Students ran to and forth, most cramming for that class they had next.

I glanced at my new scar on my forearm, thinking back to last night. After we drove the Arean Birds away, Bella and I nearly avoid a fight with some strange snaked faced men. We made it back to the hotel safely where we recovered from our wounds.

The experience frightened Bella badly. I saw this kind of thing before. In the moment of the battle, all you want to do is survive, but afterwards, reality creams you and you realize just what could have happened. It took a while, but she calmed down. I let her call her dad for several minutes on the downstairs phone. She seemed fine after, saying her dad knew this day would come and she would have to face this herself. She said the he was glad of what she was doing, trying to protect others.

Bella glanced at her watch. "How much longer can this guy take?" Bella was getting cranky with impatience.

"Only a few more minutes." I replied "You know patience is a virtue."

"Not one of mine" she said. Bella twirled her bow bracelet on her index finger. "How are going to convince this guy to come with us to this school Prometheus wants to set up?"

I shrugged. "Sometimes they issue a quest for you to go get something or kill something. I was hoping to use wisdom."

"Are we going to tell him who our parents really are?" I had mulled that part over. I honestly didn't have an answer so I shrugged. I glanced at my watch. Five minutes after ten. I tapped Bella on the shoulder and the two of us headed inside.

Cecrops', excuse me, Professor Athene's office was on the second floor, second door after the bathrooms, according to one of the students. I knocked on the door.

"Come in!" A European accent said from the other side. I opened the door, "Professor Athene?"

Cecrops was sitting behind his desk, grading some papers. "Just one moment."

Bella and I entered his office. Inside was crammed with bookcases full of books on Greece and Rome. A pair of sword hung on the wall. Other artifacts were scattered all around, like jars depicting old Greek stories. Bella and I sat in the two guest chairs opposite on the other of his desk.

Cecrops looked up from his work. "How can I help you?" he looked at us more closely. "You seem a bit young to be in college."

I laughed "we're not. We are here to see you, Cecrops."

Cecrops looked shock to here that name. He reached for something under his desk, probably a weapon. "Demigods. I can smell it now. But I can't tell which, Greek or Roman?"

I leaned forward. "Me, I am neither. But Bellerophon here, I guess would be Greek."

Cecrops gave us a quizzical glare. "How can you be neither? If you are not Greek or Roman, then who are you?"

"I am a demigod yes. My father is Tartarus." I decided to go with the truth. Cecrops seemed taken back.

"I thought that was a rumor. Some loose nymph talk." He said. His eyes widened in realization. "Thomas! They said your name was Thomas, the son of Tartarus. Typhon! You stopped Typhon from rising a third time in his full giant form. I never thought it was real."

I sighed, painful memories resurfacing. Cara, Typhon, Mount Etna. I pushed them down, focusing on the task at hand. "Well it's true. And we need your help."

Cecrops glanced at the two of us. "There is little chance that you are a member of the demigod camps, no tattoos or bead necklaces. Who sent you?"

"Prometheus!" Bella exclaimed. "Prometheus sent us to see you."

Cecrops sighed. "Ah, that old trickster. What does he want with me?"

"He wants to start a third camp, a school really, for demigods. Ones like us. And he wants you in it." She answered. Cecrops gave her a suspicious glare.

"I am sorry, who is your parent?" he asked.

"Artemis." Bella replied meekly.

"I see. And these demigods would be children like you, not part of the normal deities." Cecrops folded his hands together. I nodded. "And why does Prometheus think I would do this?"

"I guess because you are a teacher." The idea came out of nowhere, like someone was whispering it in my ear. "That's why you are here. To teach the old culture, the old ways, your ways. But here, it's nothing but fiction to them, and a dead language."

Cecrops' gaze turned soft and sad. "You are right. I use to be a teacher. I taught the Athenians how to read and write; how to become a great empire. I would not be lying if I said that a part of me wants to do that again. But what makes you sure I can teach these kids, kids like you?"

Another thought sprang forward. "Your mother was Gaia, correct? You didn't let that stop you from being a great king, instead another one of her monster children. Just because Gaia was your mother, you don't let her define you."

Cecrops face broke into a wide smile. "My, you are that kid from the story. And you are right. I did want to be more than feared as a monster. I wanted to help, to teach. Alright on the River Styx, I will do it, but I am not a fighter. I can't train demigods how to fight. You will need others for that."

My spirits lifted as Cecrops agreed. "Thank you. Prometheus said the school was to be in Montana."

"Montana? That's interesting." Cecrops rubbed his chin. "I wonder…"

Bella shifted in her chair. "What?"

Cecrops shrugged. "I suppose we will find out soon enough. Know if you will excuse me, I need to pack." Cecrops rolled his chair out from behind his desk and began to pack his things. Bella and I stood up and left his office.

"Oh and Thomas!" Cecrops said before I made completely out the door. I turned back, Bella fully stopping.

"If there is anything to those stories, the ones about you, I believe you will make a fine teacher when the day comes." Cecrops said, a daring look in his eyes, like he was challenging me to be better. "I have heard of what you sacrificed for the good of others, and I would be proud to stand by you."

I smiled politely and closed the door. Cecrops returned to his packing.

"Wow, you really are a hero?" Bella said her voice on edge of annoyance once we made out to on the street.

"Excuse me?" I said, weaving through people as we both headed back to the hotel.

"Oh seems like everyone knows about you, except me, of course." She complained. "from what I heard, you stopped Typhon from rising and lost someone named Cara. What are they talking about?"

I stopped completely in my tracks in the middle of the sidewalk. Everyone around gave me flashes of annoyance as the moved around me. My hand drifted up to the pouch, clutching the dice inside. I walked over to a bench just outside of a bookstore. Bella sat down next to me.

I took out both dice and gazed over the pictures. A drakon, giant, sea serpent, Ethiopian Pegasus, kraken, fire breathing horse, spartus, both a Boreas ventus and Notus ventus, a phoenix, a gryphon and a basilisk all stared at me threw the dice. I showed the dice to Bella. "This didn't belong to me at first. It belonged to a girl named Cara. She was the daughter of Typhon, the monster god."

Bella went over all the different sides of the dice "What happened to her?"

I stared at her, meeting her gaze. Her hazel eyes stared back sympathetically when they saw my pain. What I said next scared her. "I killed her."

"What?!" she scooted a tiny bit away from me, holding her bracelet firmly.

I laughed sadly. "It had to be done. I was around fourteen when we met. Both of us, the son and daughter of some of the most feared gods in the universe. Monsters wouldn't dare touch us. And they ones that did, we vanquished. We were unstoppable together. I would be lying if I said I didn't fall for her. Then one summer, only a year back, we were kidnapped by this drakon, right off the streets of Philly. It flew us to Mount Etna, or Mount Hood in Oregon. There, we met Cara's father, Typhon, that day. He had been imprisoned there after he was released from Saint Helens during the Second Titan War."

I fought back tears as I continued to most painful part. "He offered us shelter, considering that we both in a way family to him. You see, Typhon is my half brother. But I didn't trust him. I didn't trust the father of monsters, naturally, but to Cara, well this was her father. He gave her those Dice, to turn into monsters in combat. After a while, Typhon's real motive came to light. He wanted to be released from his prison. I knew enough if he was released, he would kill thousands of innocent people. I had no ill will towards mortals. But Cara, she was angry at the world, especially Olympus. I couldn't get her to see reason. She thought I had betrayed her. I was heartbroken, I wanted to flee to the depths of Tartarus but I knew that Cara could go through with her plan to release Typhon. It was raining; a storm was passing over the mountain. I meet her on top of the mountain. I tried to stop her, but instead we fought each other. She rolled her dice to gryphon. All I had was a Stygian Iron sword. I know the storm grew worse as we fought. Then I wounded up striking the killing blow, my sword through her chest. She turned back, and I held her as she was dying. I can still see her face, you know. It's still haunts me at night. I heard Typhon bellow from his prison, shaking the mountain. He never was free again. And Cara died on that mountain top, where I killed her."

I looked at Bella. She looked she was about to cry. I controlled my emotions and regained my composure. "So there. That's why everyone calls me a hero. Because I killed the first girl I ever loved. You satisfied now?"

I grabbed back my dice and continued down the street. Cara's face was now fresh on my mind, her light blonde hair that was always tangled, her joking eyes, her sarcasm. I remembered everything, from the way she snorted when she laughed; to the time we set a satyr's pants on fire. I remembered her death, how she feared it, feared losing me. I could feel again the way my body shook as Typhon roared, the storm intensifying. I gazed down on the dice, thinking of the promise I made Cara on her death bed when she had come to realized what she had done. I promised her that I never become the evil everyone expected of us. That I would show the world we were better than that. And I would too. Maybe Cecrops was right. Maybe I would be a teacher one day.


	5. Chapter 5

_Quick warning. from now on, posting will become spuratic and stretched. But to compinsate I will post more than one chapter at a time. thank you for reading._

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><p>Bella<p>

September in Montana was beautiful, especially in the further from civilization we got. The deep wilderness and mountains seemed to radiate a majestic beauty that you didn't get in California.

It had been three weeks since Thomas and I were recruited by Prometheus to start a school for forbidden Demigods. After we saw Cecrops, He sent us to hire the five Ismenian Spartoi in Virginia. They were nothing like the two we faced in New Jersey. These were more human like, with dead gray skin and fangs that made them look like vampires. They were just as deadly though, if not deadlier. These ones could speak, even had names, Echion, Oudaios, Chthonios, Hyperenor, and Peleros. Fortunately, all the motivation they needed was some shiny golden drachmas so they can fuel their weapon collection and agreed to provide security for our new school

Then the Titan sent us after our students, seven teens and nine kids, most toddlers, like little four year old Ellie, who was the Daughter of Kronos when he was active during the Second Titan War. Most were runaways, who had no idea what was going on. Some we saved from monsters, others it took a while to convince them. Some had incredible powers that came from their parentage, like Nick, the son of Nyx, who could literally generate darkness. Then there was Andrea, the Daughter of Eros, who could manipulate emotions. This was going to be an interesting experience.

"Are we there yet?" Eric asked. Eric was our first recruit. As a son of Styx, he was incredible strong and hard to beat in battle, trust me, you should have seen him rip the arms off huge wedge shaped giant Club Bearer in Chicago last week. He had the gift of Hercules over him from his mother. He was my age, military brown crew cut and ripped muscles. He always gave out this intimidating demeanor when he was looking at you.

"Almost." Thomas called from the front of the school bus we had "borrowed" where he was coordinating with the spartus Chthonios on directions. "Maybe another thirty minutes!"

The kids groaned. It had been a long three hours since we arrived. I laughed. I liked these kids, over the weeks I felt like their Mom, although being relatively new to all this myself. Thomas said I acted like a mother hen.

I started to feel about Thomas differently since I found out about his past. When I first met him, he was a puzzle, a silent brooding mystery. After told me about Cara and Mount Hood, I felt awful for him, and a little scared. He killed the first girl he ever loved in order to protect people. Then, during this past week, he started to open up a bit more, crack a joke or two, actually smile. I started to feel different about him. Like I wanted to be around him more.

Thirty minutes turned into an hour before the bus pulled up beside a ranch with huge, mansion sized stone house out front. The sign on the front yard read "Cretan Ranch, Keep Out." Not an encouraging sign.

Out on the porch, I saw Prometheus and Cecrops in his wheelchair talking to a large, tanned mustached rancher wearing a large black ten gallon hat and boots with spurs. The rancher was arguing with Prometheus about something.

Thomas saw it too, "Echion, keep the kids on the bus." he told the leader of the Spartoi. Echion nodded, stood up and blocked the aisle. Thomas gestured for me to follow him.

"Ollie, why this? These kids need training to fight monsters, not the other way around!" Cecrops stressed as we grew closer. The man, Ollie, snorted, like Cecrops was kidding.

"The last person who asked me to train kids was Hagno when she and her nymphs hid Zeus on my mountain." Ollie growled. He had a deep, heavy voice. My brain was stumbling over the fact that he trained Zeus. I looked at Thomas for an answer. He looked just as confused.

Prometheus saw us as we approached up the porch. "Ah, Bella, Thomas! I am glad you two are still alive. And you finished the first part of your mission."

Ollie grunted. "These the kids you told me about, Prometheus?"

"Yes." Prometheus gestured to Ollie. "Bellerophon, Thomas, I would like for you to meet a fellow Titan, Olympus."

I choked. "Olympus? As in the Mount Olympus?"

Olympus laughed harshly. "That mountain was named after me, if you must know. Zeus named it in my honor even though we... well we had a falling out over the years. In the end, we just agreed to leave each other alone."

"That's why this land couldn't be seen by Zeus, Because of Ollie over here." Thomas concluded.

Prometheus chuckled. "See, they aren't as dumb as you may think, Ollie."

Ollie laughed along. "Well then, this should be no problem for the son of Tartarus and the daughter of Artemis."

"What shouldn't be a problem?" I asked, looking between the two Titans.

Cecrops sighed. "Olympus has agreed to let us use his land and teach the students combat if we help him with a little problem he has."

"Along with chores around the ranch" Ollie pointed out. Thomas rolled his eyes and I sighed. Olympus grunted and twitched his mustache. "Over that hill over there" Ollie pointed to cliff just behind his property "there is this cave hiding a certain giant. Cacus. He has been stealing my cattle lately. Last night, he stole three of my best Ethiopian bulls. I want you to find him and bring back my bulls."

"Why haven't you killed them?" I asked bluntly, mainly out of curiosity.

Olympus glared at us for several seconds before bursting into laughter. "Believe me, I have tried, but I can't get close to him before he sets me on fire. Last time I couldn't move for a week!"

Set him on fire? Will ok then, that's just great. We get to deal with a fire wielding monster that can beat a Titan.

Prometheus nodded at us. "Think of this as another quest. Get another one of the students. You will need another person for this. Quests are always better in threes."

Thomas nodded and went back to the bus. I stayed on the porch. "Where exactly is the cave?" I asked Olympus.

"When you past the big oak tree, follow the trail south till you see a cave against a big pile of rocks. You will know it when you smell it." Ollie explained.

A moment later, Thomas returned with Eric. "So I get to beat up monsters now?!" Eric asked, totally pumped.

Ollie laughed "I like this kid!"

Thomas waved at us to move on. "Let's go!"

We moved as quickly as we could. Following Olympus's directions, went past a large oak tree south along the rocky ground. Large boulders and even bigger boulder formations mad moving through the area difficult. Then we noticed the smell like everything was dying and decaying around us.

"Arggh! What is that smell?! A slaughter house?!" Eric gagged.

"Not all monsters smell great." Thomas coughed out.

"Must mean we're close." unwillingly, we followed the smell,. Trying not to lose our lunch, till we meet a cave. Bones of different animals were piled outside, some still had meet on them. Quietly we slipped in side. The smell got worse. It took all I had not to turn around and flee in the other back outside.

Inside, torches lit up the expanse. In the center of the cave, a large iron caldron sat over a blazing fire. To the side, a simple skin bed stunk to high heaven, along with a pile of dirty clothes. On the other side, three blood red bulls mooed in despair, as if they were sensing their immediate fate as hamburgers.

Then, from the a back tunnel, we heard whistling. The three of us scattered, hiding behind larger rocks. Soon the whistler came to light. He was huge, around eight feet tall. This must have been Cacus. Cacus had long brown greasy hair and wore dirty togas made from animal skin. Cacus faced was messed up with scars and large broad nose.

Cacus continued whistling some tune unknown to me as he stirred the caldron and looked back at the cows, who nearly drowned out his whistling. Cacus snarled at them. "Don't worry; I ain't going to cut you. Your skin is too tough for that. Rather I am going to burn you. Have a nice barbecue."

Cacus sneezed that moment and sniffed the air. He stopped dead in his tracks and sniffed the air again. His eyes widened with hate. "I know that smell! There is someone in my cave!" Cacus bellowed, sniffing again. "A couple someones! And one of you smells like Hercules! Is that you, Hercules?! Have you come back to kill me again, because it won't happen a second time!"

Who smelled like Hercules- Eric. Cacus somehow was smelling that fact that Styx had gifted him with incredible strength. I looked over at Thomas. He had drawn out one of his dice. He held up three fingers and counted down. I drew my bow and Eric gripped his Stygian Iron hammer. Three... Two... One.

Thomas rolled down his dice and Eric and I sprang from our hiding spots. Cacus grinned when he saw us and drew bake a breath. I load an arrow and fired but Cacus exhaled, flames shooting form his mouth. My arrow was ash before it even reached him. I rolled out of the way of his flames.

Eric was upon him immediately. He struck his hammer on Cacus knee, sounding with a sickening crunch. Cacus roared in pain. He shot a fireball at Eric who was blasted to the wall. He slumped over dazed.

I aimed again but before I could even shoot; a blast of lightning struck Cacus over. I looked over to see that Thomas had turned into a ghostly Boread ventus, electricity crackling around his finger tips. But Cacus wasn't dead yet. He groaned, rubbing his head. "I HATE DEMIGODS!"

Eric recovered from the blast just then. He lunged at Cacus, pinning down his arms behind his back. Cacus spun around, spewing fire. He set everything from the bed to the pile of dirty clothes on fire. I rolled out of the way.

Thomas stretched out his hand, electricity buzzing around him. He fired out another lightning bolt, but all it did was stun Cacus. Then I reacted. Locking another arrow, I fired at the dazed giant. They sliced into his neck. Cacus roared in pain but I shot two more. They struck, impaling themselves on the roof of Cacus's mouth.

Cacus fell to his knees, his broken one cracking. Eric jumped up and brought his hammer down through Cacus skull. Cacus busted all of a sudden into a cloud of putrid golden dust. Eric gagged and threw up, seeing how he was in middle of the dust.

Thomas transformed back into a demigod and curled his nose at the smell. "Come on. Let's go back and grab shower."

No need arguing with me. We bolted out of there, gasping in the fresh air and returned victorious to what was to be our new school.


	6. Chapter 6

Thomas

We returned to the ranch as conquering heroes, in the other eyes at least. I didn't feel like a hero. I felt dirty and smelly, like Cacus aura was clinging to my body. Olympus grabbed a hose immediately and sprayed us down, soaking us before we even got close to the ranch. I guess we smelled pretty bad.

After we changed into what little dry clothes we had, the Spartoi and the other demigods immediately went to work setting up a place to stay for the night. The sun was starting to slip beyond the horizon. Olympus and Cecrops brought out several tents from Olympus's attic. His main house was only two stories and didn't hold much room for our large group.

Eric, Nick, Andrea and the other kids pitched in setting the tents on the front lawn. The tents were pitched in under an hour. Cecrops took on a chaperone role and paired us in different tents. All the younger kids were set up in the largest tent with Andrea, who acted like a replacement mom for them. The kids' actual parents surely had to miss them, but they knew that they were not safe in the real world, so they let us take them to a safe school. Of course we didn't tell them that this school wasn't built yet. I wondered how we were even going to turn this run down dump into a school suitable for demigods.

The midnight moon loomed over me as I stared out at the stars. The campfire were we cooked our stew supper on was reduced to a pile of smoldering coals. The others had gone to bed a few hours earlier, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I stared out at Orion, Capricorn and a strange new constellation that seemed to appear overnight, the Huntress. I heard stories that over seven years ago, a hunter of Artemis had died and was placed amongst the stars. I never found out the whole story.

As the fire crackled and popped, I heard footsteps approach the fire. I looked down to see Prometheus sit down at the fire, staring intently at the coal.

"I called the Dactyli, they will be here tomorrow to build the school building and dormitory. " He stated matter of factly. I had no idea what he was talking about, but a memory of information sprang into my mind.

"Dactyli, five metalworking spirits or something." I remembered.

Prometheus nodded. "They run Construction Company on Olympus. Best of the best, very discreet. It should only take them a few hours to build the school." Prometheus's look clouded, like he saw something dark but he shook it off. "Zeus has started to notice my absence. Since my allegiances in the last Titan War have made my relations with Mount Olympus rocky, I can't risk exposing this school. I must head back to Olympus."

I nodded. I didn't trust the Titan much. Prometheus was one of the trickiest and cleverest Titan, god and monster combined. He has fooled mankind, monsters and gods. I didn't trust his full intention in setting up this school out the memory of his three kids, but I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to protect kids like me, for Cara's sake.

The memory of Cara and her final moments filled me with the same hate I have always had for Olympus. A memory of when we first met flooded my train of thought, taking me back to the early days when we had first met. The world around faded into the background, replaced with the old memories.

_"Thomas!" a girl's voice cried out in the night, amongst the thunderous bombardment of the rainstorm and the coughing of sick men. "Thomas, where did you go?"_

_"Over here!" I cried out, not wanting to stick my head out from the tarp cover I had careful crafted. Cara followed the origin of my voice and ducked into our cover, trying to not get what little supplies we had wet._

_It was only four years ago, just a few weeks after I had met Cara and found out that I was a demigod. I didn't who was my godly parent then. We were two homeless demigods, wandering the streets of New York City. We had made a make shift shelter in a ruined alleyway amongst several other homeless tents and tarps. Trash cans and various debris cluttered the alleyway. Cars whizzed by us, spraying waves of waters on our tents, making someone cuss now and then._

_Our tent was nothing more that blue tarp over several layers of plastic tarps and trash cans. I had built big enough for the two of us and against the wall of a rundown apartment building. This area was a known homeless community and people here looked out for each other, which was good in our case, since monsters would attack now and then. The smell helped disguise our scent too, not that I was very fond of it. But our little tent was our home for time being. We had a few blankets and pillows we wadded into beds and some extra clothes. All of our clothes were ratty and torn, but at least somewhat clean. I wore a couple t-shirts and a thick red hoodie with several layers of blue jeans and hiking boots. Cara wore black beanie, denim men's jacket over a bright pink t shirt and snow pants._

_Cara crashed into her side of the tent and pulled something out of her jacket. Two short swords. The handles looked made from bone, laced with leather. The sheaths were a dark animal hide brown that was caked with dirt._

_I took one and unsheathed it. The blades were obsidian black, only two feet long The edges looked chipped, like they had seen a rough fight.. "A sword?"_

_Cara grinned. "Stygian Iron. Useful against monsters and ghost."_

_"What the heck is Stygian Iron?" I asked._

_"Iron cooled in the River Styx." Cara replied. "We can use them to fight the monsters."_

_I thought about the creatures that had been attacking us the past few weeks. The Cyclops, the snake legged ladies. I had found it hard to believe but they weren't giving me much of a choice in the matter._

_"Where did you find these?" I put the sword back in its sheath._

_Cara looked away, like she didn't want to say. A knot twisted in my stomach and dread filled my heart. "Cara, what did you do? You didn't make a deal, did you?"_

_Cara shook her head, shocked that I would say that. "No! No drugs, nothing like that."_

_"Then where did you get these?" I pressed._

_"I, I buried them, a year ago." She murmured. _

_"You buried them? Why?"_

_Cara just stared off into space. I rolled my eyes. "Cara, tell me! You said no secrets!"_

_Cara glared at me at first, and then broke out into a full grin. "You can't use that against me! "_

_"Can too!" I laughed. "No spill!"_

_Cara stared back at the sword she was holding. "I buried them during the Battle of Manhattan, when Kronos was trying to take Olympus."_

_"Battle of Manhattan?" I asked._

_"It was a few months ago, right here. We were trying to take Mount Olympus." She replied._

_"We?"_

_"The Titan Army." Cara answered._

_I raised an eyebrow. I was still new to all of this stuff. "Titan Army? Like those evil guys who wanted to kill everyone. How did wind up with them."_

_"Two years ago, after my mom went crazy with the pills and all, I joined the Titan Army. I was just wondering the streets and they found me. They gave me a home, kinda. I mean all the monsters scared me a bit, but I learned how to fight and all that. They told all about the gods, taught me to hate them. I fought for them. Helped their leader explore the Labyrinth to find Daedalus, which was not fun. One of the other demigods, Chris, went crazy. Fought at the Battle of Camp Half Blood." She explained._

_"Camp Half Blood?" I asked._

_Cara nodded. "It's like a safe haven for Greek demigods. Monsters can't attack them there."_

_"Why don't we go there?!" I demanded._

_Cara glared at me again. "Because the god who runs the place will kill me! I killed one of his kids during the battle. And I was 'rogue' demigod. No way would they accept me. After the Titan Army dissolved, I just went on the run. Be alone ever since."_

_I glanced back at the blade, the black iron making me feel like I was looking at an abyss. Camp Half Blood. A part of me wanted to go there, leave this nightmare before it killed me. But I couldn't leave Cara behind. I grabbed Cara's hand. "Hey, I'm with you! We are going to do this together."_

_Cara smiled. "Thanks. And tomorrow, after this rainstorm, we are going to start practicing. You can't swing a sword to stab a gryphon."_

_I stuck out my tongue and Cara through some trash out me. Outside, Old Ronnie coughed. "Just kiss already." _

_We both laughed and tried to settle down enough to sleep at as the storm continued._

"Thomas?"

Bella shook me out of my thoughts. She loomed over me, her bow in her hand. Prometheus was already gone. Bella had a concerned look on her face. I was more concerned why she had her bow out. "Is there something wrong?"

Bella shook her head and flicked her bow into bracelet form. "Oh, I was out with the Spartoi chasing down a pack of hellhounds that were sniffing around the boar pin."

"Boar Pin?" I asked.

Bella laughed. "Yeah, Ollie has these giant boars out back. Mean little things." Bella sat down on the logs around the fire. "How are things back here?"

I shrugged. "Everyone is snoring nicely. Prometheus went back to Mount Olympus, so he left Cecrops in charge. Says he hired these guys who could build the school in a few hours and won't tell anyone about it."

"Sounds good." Bella said.

"How are you holding up with all this?" I asked.

Bella sighed. "If you told me three weeks ago that I wasn't normal, I would have believed you. I mean, ever since I was little I was able to run like the flash, but I had no idea that I was descended from Achilles himself, let alone a demigod. But here I am, after being kidnapped by a Titan, fighting the craziest monsters of my life, helping kids me, kids like us."

I smiled. "Forbidden demigods."

Bella shrugged "hey, I am the Daughter of Artemis, who was never supposed to have kids. I wonder if I ever saw my mom, what she would do, kill me or hug me."

"Hopefully hug you." I said. "At least I wouldn't be as bad as meeting my dad."

Bella raised an eyebrow. "You met Tartarus?"

"It was after Cara… died. I wondered down there for a while. I learned that he was my father, but when I met him, well let's say I rather didn't know. At least I can go down without being attacked."

"What did he do?"

I looked Bella in the eye. "He wanted to lead the armies of Tartarus against the two Camps for the death of his precious Gaia. But after Cara, I would have never done it. Ever since, he keeps sending monsters after me. Last ones were the Minotaur and Cretan Bull."

"Sounds like a real dick." Bella laughed.

"Well most gods are."

Bella grinned. "Night Fairway."

"Night. Hopefully tomorrow nothing bad happens or attacks." I said, heading back to my tent. And like normal demigods lives, I was wrong.

As I dozed off, the dreams came. Demigod dreams usually are nowhere near peaceful. Mine were especially not since the freaking Orenios would not leave me alone. Orenios are spirits of dreams and like an Iris Message; you can pay them to send a message through them. Most of the time it was monster telling me my time was up, other times; Orenios were showing me something I needed to know, especially since I helped their leader Morpheus with a problem a year back. Hopefully this dream was one of the latter ones.

This Orenios must have been a newbie, because the vision was all murky. The environment was a dark cellar, the moldy walls looked like they wanted just cave in and collapse.

In the center of the cellar was desk, maps and weapons scattered on top. Seating in the desk chair was a young woman, I think. I couldn't see her face, which was covered in a dark hood and black faceless mask, but you could tell the masked person was a girl. She sat on a Stygian Iron throne etched with the designs of different monsters. Her legs were crossed and her hands were folded in front of her.

On the other side of the desk were a centaur and female monster. The centaur was not like most centaurs I have met. He was calm, cool and collected. His pinto horse half never once twitched or swayed. His human half was buff and chiseled. Tattoo sleeves of various monsters and humans covered his arms and chest. His well-groomed goatee, dark piercing eyes and ponytailed brown hair made me feel like he was just waiting to kill something.

The other woman made me want to hide in a hole and never come out. She seemed to just radiate fear and her stern face didn't help. She wore a goatskin tunic. Her hair was the strangest; it was snake _tails_, not snake heads. The snake tails were a beautiful black and orange, in a fire like design. Her olive tan skin was scaly, like reptilian armor and her nails were long fang like claws. But despite all that, she was actually quite beautiful. The strange thing was that I had seen her somewhere before, but I couldn't place.

The masked woman addressed the centaur. "Is your plan in action?"

The centaur nodded. "My pack is quite efficient at killing demigods. If they do survive, our giant friend will finish them off."

The word giant sent bad feelings done my spine. Unfortunately not all of the giants in the Second Giant War were defeated and those who escaped fled into the unknown. All giants were born to oppose gods and gods were no laughing matter. I pitied whoever they were hunting.

The masked woman nodded. "Good, our army goes stronger every day. When we here for King Antiphates?"

The snake haired human stepped forward. "Tomorrow, milady. He plans to pledge allegiance to you, milady" She spoke with a heavy Middle Eastern accent. "And I heard word from our allies, our forces are in place."

The masked woman cracked her knuckles. "Excellent. Once the only demigods who could even know of our plans are eliminated, Olympus will be ours."

The snake woman frowned. "If I may, milady, what we are trying to accomplish, Titans, giants and even Gaia herself has failed."

"Your point, Aegis?" Where did Aegis sound familiar? Arggh, I could swear I knew from somewhere.

"Well what makes you think this plan of yours could work, not that I don't have faith, milady?" Aegis asked.

The masked woman smiled, or at least I think she was smiling or a. "Kronos, Porphyrion and Gaia were arrogant. They thought they were greater than demigods but soon I will show them how powerful demigods are. And I have summoned the eldest monsters, the remnant giants, Titans and gods themselves to my cause. And once more, instead of a full on assault, we have carefully placed our operatives inside of Camp Half Blood, New Rome, even in Mount Olympus itself. The gods will never see it coming."

The centaur smiled. "No wonder they call you the Queen of Tricks. You may even craftier than me."

"It is _the_ Queen, thank you very much, Nessus." The _Queen _retorted. She dismissed him with a flick of her hand. "Go, check on your operation, so to it that it doesn't fail."

The centaur bowed respectfully and left. As Aegis looked back; you could see the wheels turning in her head. "What is our plan if Nessus fails?"

The Queen laughed. "He rarely does, but if he does, there is no way they could trace it back to us. Besides, Aegis, don't you want revenge on Zeus? On Poseidon and Athena, for what they did to your daughters?"

Aegis eyes darkened with hate. "Of course."

The masked queen rose from her chair. "Then have faith. The final touches to our plan are already in place, just waiting for the word, we will have our revenge."

Then the dream faded as a bloodcurdling scream split the night, startling from my sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

_I_ _just got Blood of Olympus yesterday, took me only four hours to read, but I may say, I am disappointed in how Riordan used Kekrops but I am going use it anyway! So I changed **Cecrops to Kekrops**, but it's still my character, so HA!_

**_Spiesareawesome_**_: I will never stop being awesome. Just ask my mates. You can send in a forbidden parent for future demigods but I got the demigods covered._

* * *

><p>Bella<p>

I was in deep sleep, dreaming about going to beach with my dad, running around at lightning speeds when the scream woke me.

Using my Damysus's Gift, I speed out of my tent to the source of the scream in a blink of eye. Ally, the daughter of sea titan Oceanus, was waving her Atlantean Coral sword, a gift from her father which could also shoot water, made from the a special coral that grew in the ruins of Atlantis, wildly in the air, trying to hit something that wasn't there. I flicked my wrist, my bow forming in my hand.

I rushed up to Ally and put my hands one her shoulders. She freaked, nearly killing me with one swing. Ally was only twelve, our youngest fighter. She had short blonde hair and sea green eyes. We found her on the coast of Florida, defending herself from some telkhine jerks. The way she fought reminded me of a dam breaking loose and destroying everything in her path, constantly moving and striking hard and fast.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's me!" I tried to calm her. "It's me, Bella! What's wrong? Who are you attacking?"

Just then a black gryphon landed next to us, so fast I jumped into the air. I nearly shot it, but then it spoke in Thomas's voice. "What happened?"

Ally looked terrified. "I don't know. I came out to use the bathroom and then a heard my little brother in the dark, which is really weird because Alex is at home with my Mom. So I called out to him but he wasn't there. Then this… thing calm out of nowhere! And it all these teeth and claws and it laughed like a hyena. I was so scared and I just swung my sword and I think I got it. It just dissolved. And it sound like there was more of them in the woods. And…"

I gripped Ally's shoulder even harder, getting her to look at me. "Hey, look at me. Your safe now, we're here."

Ally nodded and hugged me, which was not what I was expecting. Just then the Spartoi came running up with high powered shotguns, assault rifles and for some reason, Peleros had a chainsaw. Behind them, Kekrops, Olympus, and the older kids followed, carrying their weapons. I sent Ally over to Kekrops to check her for any injuries.

"What happened?" Olympus asked, brandishing his spear.

Thomas flexed his gryphon claws. "Could be a Cyclops. Ally said that she heard her little brother and Cyclops could mimic voices, but I never heard any them laughing like a hyena."

Echion shook his head, shouldering his shotgun. "If he is out there, then we will …."

A new voice echoed from the edge of the darkness. I couldn't understand it, it sound like Latin or Arabic. The Spartoi looked at each other, nervously. They gripped their weapons, were ready to shoot at anything. Ollie and Kekrops also looked worried, straining to see something in the dark.

"What is it?" I asked, pulling back my bowstring. A silver arrow materialized on the string.

"Cadmus?" Chthonios asked nervously. The Spartoi slowly approached the source of the voice in a V formation.

"Who is Cadmus?" I asked Kekrops.

"He created the first Spartoi after defeating the Theban Dragon and sowed his teeth in the ground. These five Spartoi are all that's left of the original batch. The Spartoi sort of looked at him like a god to them." He explained. He twirled his Imperial Gold sword. "Come on. Let's go."

Thomas spread his wings and shot out into the air like an arrow. I stayed back, aiming down the shaft of my arrow, searching for anything in the dark. Olympus swept through the night with his spear. Nick, who saw best at night, also had drawn back his bow with Stygian Iron arrows. Eric and Herman, yes Herman, the son of the death god Thanatos, spread out to the left of the Spartoi. Aaron and Morgan, the twin sons of Hestia, lit up their hands with their pyro-kinetic power and went off to the right.

I kept sweeping the dark, hoping to find a glimpse of something. The voice of Cadmus had stopped as soon as the Spartoi got close to the woods. All was quiet, which really freaked me out.

"Bella?" a voice whispered behind me.

I whipped around, my eyes widened. The voice came from the tents. It wasn't just any voice, it was my father's. That couldn't be right. Dad was still in LA. He couldn't be here. He knew that I was helping to start a school for forbidden demigods, but I never told him where. He couldn't be here.

"Bella? Where are you?" the voice of my dad said again. I focused on the tent where the younger kids were sleeping. Whatever it was, it was near the kids. Anger filled my chest and slowly approached the tent area.

"Andrea?" I called out.

"In here." She said called out inside the tent. She came out, little Ellie clinging to her leg. Andrea had her bow in her hand, an arrow with a Celestial Bronze tip nocked in the bow. The rest of the children huddled in the doorway.

"Stay here." I said, and continued searching. Andrea scooted the rest of the kids back into the tent.

"I'm here, Bella." My dad's voice said again. "I'm right here."

I turned to the source of the voice. Whatever it was; was between two of the tents in the dark shaded area. I turned my bow and aimed hard. "Where are you?"

"Here." it said in my dad's voice, only in the voice he used in he was angry. Then it jumped into my view. I had only enough time to look at it and miss my shot, barely grazing its underbelly. It was the size of a leopard with the frame of one. It was a dark blood red, with purple cloven hooves. Its jaw was really the scary part of it. It was wide and long, like a snake's or an alligator's, and filled razor sharp shark teeth.

I didn't have time to react or even pull back my bowstring for another shot. Its jaws unhinged to the size of my skull. I braced myself, shielding my face with my arms, waiting for ti take my head off. My entire life went before my eyes. From my first memories of my dad trying to teach me how to ride a back to when Prometheus kidnapped and sent me on this wild journey.

Then nothing happened. I slowly looked up and saw that the monster was frozen in place above. Two arrows buried themselves in its neck and the monster vaporized to golden dust.

I recovered my composure and locked in another arrow. Over by the tent, Andrea was loading another arrow. Beside her, Ellie looked tired, ready to pass out. Ellie must have stopped time and Andrea killed the monster.

"Hey, are you alright?" Andrea asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Then, over by the woods, hyena-like laughter and gunfire erupted. I rushed over to the others at the speed of light. There were more than a few dozen of them, all laughing with high pitched hyena voices and throwing out taunts in different voices. Ollie had grown to ten foot tall and trying to squash the monsters under his spurs like bugs, while holding the others off with his spear. Kekrops had one monster in his long snake body, squeezing the life out of it like an anaconda. Thomas was dive-bombing the monsters, lifting them into the air and dropping them. Aaron, Morgan, and Eric were standing back to back, Eric smashing them with his hammers, Aaron and Morgan blasting fire into the pack. Herman was shadow traveling between the monsters, his very touch draining the life out of them. I couldn't see Nick, but from the direction of the arrows, he had blanketed himself in darkness and shadow traveling between shooting positions. Ally had regained her composure and was moving between monsters like a flood, shooting water and slicing them apart with her sword. The Spartoi were having the time of their lives battling the monsters. Peleros was laughing hysterically as he cut through enemies with his chainsaw. The other four Spartoi had got rid of their firearms and switched to knives and axes. Apparently they were counting as they cut through their enemies, like it was a competition. Hypernor was winning, but Oudaois was close behind.

The monsters were starting to have a hard time, but they never stopped laughing. It reminded me more of a psychotic clown's laugh.

I knelt down and began to pick off stragglers at the fringes of the pack and those who got to close killing off my friends. I must have shot a dozen arrows, but these things kept coming. A few even tried to charge me, but I managed to shoot them down before they got close. Thomas helped a few times, slicing them with his poisoned claws.

In the midst of the battle, Herman cried out in pain. One of the monsters had gotten a bite into his leg. Herman went down. Herman grabbed the monster by the throat, and the monster vaporized into shadows. Herman tried to get up, but his leg was bleeding and fell again. The other monsters sensed his weakness and begin to circle him like vultures around a fresh kill.

I fired off several arrows, hitting half of the monsters around Herman. Kekrops rushed to his aid and sliced through the others with his sword. He helped Herman up and helped him out the fight, with Echion and Peleros covering them. Kekrops got Herman to Andrea, who started to bandage his wound.

The battle seemed last forever, and I was beginning to tire out, but the herd of hyena monsters was thinning out. The first rays of dawn were starting to shine in the sky. The other kids were also tiring out. Only the Spartoi were still having fun, chasing down the other monsters as they tried to flee. Ollie squashed his last monster with his boot; his spear had been broken over a tree. Soon the last of the monsters, probably only five of them, slipped back into the woods.

As they fled, the rest of us regrouped over by the tents to check on our injuries, while Ollie and the Spartoi remained unhurt, the rest of us had some wounds that needed to be looked at. Aaron and Morgan were so drained of energy they fell asleep the moment they sat down. Eric had several slashes down his arms and chest. Nick had taken a bite in his gut, which was getting quick attention by Kekrops. I was only super tired and had a nick on one of my ankles.

"What were those things?" I asked Kekrops. He and Thomas were helping to bandage Nick.

"Those were Leukrokottas." Thomas answered instead. "Like Cyclops, they can mimic voices to lure their prey."

Just then the Spartoi returned from scouting the perimeter. "There were gone. That pack was larger than most I had ever seen." Echion reported.

"Pack?" Thomas said. He looked like he had seen a ghost.

Ollie had picked up on Thomas's reaction. His mustache twitched. "Thomas, if you know something, now would be a really good time to explain it."

Thomas shook his head. "It was… well, I had this dream last night before the attack, and there was something about a pack and…" Thomas stopped dead cold. "There's a giant nearby."

No sooner than when Thomas said those words, something large moved in front of the rising dawn. The sunlight was snuffed out, replaced with a bright cold white light radiating from the giant. As he got closer, you could make out his features. He was thirty feet tall, with dragon-like legs. His skin was the color of crystal diamonds and glowed with a cold artificial light, like that from a flood lamp. His eyes glowed bright pure white; his gleaming smile was cold and cruel. His long silver hair flowed down around his shoulders. He wore light yellow sport tank top and yellow cargo pants. In his hand was long neon white and silver colored whip.

"Now, what you made say that?" he said, his grating voice reminding me of a TV serial killer. "It's not like I was hiding or anything. But I did enjoy watching you wear yourselves out with the Leukrokottas. Shame they didn't get to kill you too. But oh well, more for me, I say!"

"Who are you?" Thomas asked. I learned from him when we first met that whenever you face an enemy, get it boasting. More likely than not, they will give away a weakness or give you time to come up with a plan to defeat them.

And true to his word, the giant faked a shocked look. "What, my own brother doesn't even recognize me? I'm shocked, I truly am. I was never that famous but that's all about to change. I am Picolous, born to oppose Helios, the sun itself! And now you well have to the exclusive honor of dying at my hand." Then he struck.

Picolous lashed out with his whip. The whip knocked all five Spartoi through the air, but not before they synchronized throwing grenades at Picolous. The grenades exploded all around Picolous, temporarily off balancing him. His skin glowed light red whitish color, like he was angry.

"You will pay that!" he growled. He rose back to his feet and curled up his whip around arm. Before he even could lash out, a long red snakelike drakon crashed into him. The drakon's front arms were attached to his folded wings, raking down Picolous's face. Thomas must have rolled his dice to drakon.

Thomas and Picolous rolled around in a ball of diamond skin and red claws and teeth. Thomas occasionally spewed fire, making Picolous only angrier. Thomas struck out with his long tail and tripped Picolous crashing him into the ground. Thomas reared back his head and a stream of hot fire blanketed Picolous in flames. Picolous roared with anger and charged Thomas, completely ignoring the flames.

He tackled Thomas to ground. Thomas writhed and wiggled, trying to break free from Picolous's grip but Picolous had him too tight. Picolous grinned menacingly. I tried to take aim with my bow but I was too tired and Picolous was using Thomas giant drakon form as a shield.

"You should know, brother." Picolous sneered. "You need a god to defeat me, and from what I heard, there no gods here."

"How 'bout a Titan?" Someone said from behind Picolous. Ollie appeared behind Picolous, the same size of the giant, and knocked him off his feet again, with a new spear. Picolous crashed into the ground. Ollie reached down and yanked the whip out of his hand. Thomas grabbed Picolous with his back legs, spread his wings and rose into the air, with a screaming Picolous in his claws.

"Put me down!" Picolous seethed.

About fifty feet above the ground, Thomas stopped midair. "Good bye brother." He said in a deep growling voice and let the giant go. Picolous screamed as he plummeted to the earth. Ollie planted his spear into the ground, point up like a spike. Picolous fell straight on it, impaling him through the chest. Picolous looked shocked for a moment; then dissolved into a massive amount of golden dust. As soon as he dissolved, the normal sunlight returned.

Thomas landed beside Ollie, and both reverted back to human form. "Is everyone alright?" Ollie asked.

Just then the Spartoi raced back from being knocked back by Picolous's whip. They seemed disappointed to find that Picolous had been defeated already. But the rest of us were fine. Thomas stared off into the distance at a hill where the dawn sun was peeking out. On the hill, a small figure, a centaur, reared on his back legs took off. Thomas narrowed his eyes but shook it off.

Kekrops slithered over to Thomas and Ollie. "That was close. Picolous was never an easy opponent, even Circe couldn't defeat him by herself. Thomas, what else did you see in your dream?"

Thomas explained about the masked queen, the centaur and Aegis. Kekrops expression darkened. "Nessus. The world's greatest contract killer. He managed to kill Hercules by tricking his wife into poisoning his shirt. And Aegis was the mother of the Gorgons. Zeus used her skin to create his shield. Whoever is this Queen is, for some reason thinks that we somehow know about her plans. I'll talk to a few of friends about. The rest of you, go to sleep, you've had a long night."

The rest of us nodded and headed back to our tents. As soon as I got close to my tent, something in the bushes next to Ollie's house said "Ow." I gestured for Thomas and Eric to come over and pointed at the rustling bush. I flicked out my bow and took aim. Thomas drew a Stygian Iron dagger while Eric flanked on the other side.

At once, Thomas and Eric tackled whatever was in the bush. "Come here!" Eric yelled. There was a brief struggle, then Thomas and Eric dragged out a boy, around fifteen, with black hair and hazel eyes. He wore classic Roman armor, from the helmet down to the greaves, over a purple shirt and jeans. On his back was a quiver full of arrows and bow. On his arms was a lyre with three lines tattooed into his flesh like burn marks, along with the letters SPQR.

"A Roman." Thomas seethed. He threw the Roman to the ground and pressed his knife against the kid's throat. "From Camp Jupiter. Tell me, what are you doing here?! Who sent you?!"

The kid threw his hands into the air. He looked scared to death. "Some god! I don't know who he was! He had scars and a ponytail! He said to go here! I-I met him two days ago!"

Thomas shook his head. "Prometheus. Why would he send a Roman here?"

The kid looked even more scared, like he was revealing a deadly secret. "Because- because he said I wasn't safe at Camp Jupiter, he said I had to come here. If I stayed at Jupiter any longer, they would find out! He said to tell you that I am the son of the goddess Diana!"

Diana. My mother's Roman form. This was my brother.


	8. Chapter 8

Bella

In the weeks that followed the Leukrokotta attack, I tried to wrap my mind around the weirdness that was happening.

First off was my supposed brother, Malcolm Wagner. Apparently, he was a legionnaire from Camp Jupiter, where everyone thought he was a son of Apollo because of his excellent bow skills, but he had none of the other qualities, like medicine, music and prophecy. Mal was a member of the Third Cohort, and he did pretty well, but people were starting to get suspicious of him. Why wasn't he like the other children of Apollo, how come he was best in the woods and in the moonlight. If one thing Camp Jupiter doesn't appreciate, it's being lied to, even if you had no idea you were lying. New Rome had no children of Minerva, Athena's Roman form, and held honor and maidenhood in high esteem. So to find out that your mom wasn't supposed to have kids, well it would be like a death sentence.

One night, Prometheus had explained to him in a dream about his heritage and that the Romans were nearly on to him. So one night, Mal slipped out under the cover of darkness and made his way here while being chased by the bear twins Oreios and Agrius. He managed to lose them in Chicago before coming here.

We were too tired to deal with Mal that morning, so Olympus took watch over him while we slept for well, the better part of the day. And in that time, we missed the Dactyli building the school and magic borders. Apparently, they were metal working spirits that could build anything in a matter of seconds. Building a school with dorm rooms, a cafeteria and a gym to train in, only took two hours for them. It blew my mind.

When we woke up, I was shocked. Ollie's drab house was still there, but somehow it was moved to the back like a shed. The school, dorms and all were all in one three story square building. It reminded me of a castle with stone grey walls and black tile roof. Outside the front door was a huge metal winged statute of a knight holding a large sword etched with flame designs. I learned later that it was an Automaton, the source of power for the magic borders that kept out the monsters. It could come to life if the borders were ever breached. We just called it Kratos, after the God of Strength and Protection.

Inside was beautiful. It was the inside of a celebrity's mansion. The marble tiled foyer had to two stair cases on either side. The rooms themselves could fit four people comfortably, but we each got one to ourselves. Some of the kids were ecstatic, since most didn't have a room of their own, like Thomas, who was still in shock. I guess being homeless for so long that rooms are weird for you. We put the younger kids in with Andrea, who just adored them.

As the weeks went by, Prometheus sent more kids and help our way. First was Pholus, a centaur whose only passion in life was cooking. As soon as he arrived, he went straight to the kitchen. He didn't care that we were forbidden demigods, only that he got to unlimited material to cook with and people to serve. Pholus was kind to us, and loved playing with younger kids. One the plus side, his food was amazing. Apparently it can be used as a weapon too, since his wine caused an entire centaur tribe to go berserk by accident. He won't be doing that again.

Thomas and I helped as much as we could. I taught archery from time to time and Thomas taught monster fighting. We were pretty active in helping the kids settle in to their new life. Thomas and I, well, it was hard to categorize our relationship. Thomas wasn't exactly easy to get close too. He still carried part of Cara with him, and killing her didn't help. We decided not mention that part to the others.

Three new demigods showed up also. One was the daughter of sea monster goddess Keto, Penelope, who felt kinda nervous being so far from water, but she and Ally bonded pretty quickly. The other two, a brother and sister, Kyle and Kayla, were the last children of Gaia, the earth goddess. We called them the Earthbenders because they could lift and reshape rocks and stone with their mind. Kayla was very protective of her younger brother.

Classes here I was getting bored of, except for fighting and monster class, which was taught by Ollie. For some reason, those were my favorite classes. Kekrops taught math, English, Latin and Ancient Greek, which most of us were hardwired for except Simon, who was hardwired for Latin. Ollie taught us how to fight using any kind of weapon, just like he had with Zeus when he was a young god and how to defeat monsters.

Speaking of which, they just kept coming. The magic border stopped them from getting in, but they were keeping us from getting out. The Spartoi loved their new job hunting them down and we occasionally were assigned border patrol with them. One time we ran into a flock, gaggle, or whatever of Keres, winged death demon hags with these long pale claws and fangs that really wanted to drink my blood. I was told they were what the vampire legend was based form. Yeah, like that was comforting. Another time, Nick, Eric and Spartoi faced the Chimera. Nick was hurt pretty bad, even lost his right arm. He was given a new robotic one made from Stygian Iron; it made him look like a cyborg. He thought it was pretty cool too.

But the monsters attacks were getting worse, and definitely orchestrated. Thomas went out every day to hunt down Nessus, but no luck so far. Nessus never got his hands dirtier. Kekrops kept checking with his contacts in the monster world. He said he was getting close to something but wouldn't reveal any information till he was sure.

In addition to classes and fighting monsters, we helped out on the ranch, herding Ethiopian Bulls, the giant Aetolian Boars, caring for pegasi, even herds of different kinds of horses, from fire breathing Arean Horses, Unicorns, who were not as girly was you might think, to Trojan Horses, which couldn't be killed. The ranch helped pay for the school, mainly the Spartoi's salary, and gave the school a cover story, even from Olympians.

It was a Thursday afternoon when I knocked on Mal's door after I was finished helping out in the Hippalektryon pen. The rooster horses were very skittish, so I had to be careful around them, least I was stabbed by their back talons. The only reason we even kept them was that their eggs were very valuable and helped pay for the school. I was kinda dirty and sweaty, but I wanted to see Mal anyway.

Mal was still getting use to all this. He spent three years as a loyal Roman soldier, he was a bit rebellious, but loyal, until he went to Colorado on a quest, his first one. There, he was separated from his cohort by a flock of wild Golden Sheep. We have some Golden Sheep on the ranch. They are extremely aggressive and could spew poison. I could imagine running away when they charged. Mal was lost in the woods for three days. There he met a boy named Simon Collins.

Nearly a decade earlier, Simon had the unfortunate luck of surprising my mother and was turned into a jackalope. When Gaia was rising several years ago, Simon was one of the many who joined her forces. Gaia made him a shapeshifter to aid in her war. After Gaia's fall, Simon wandered across America, hoping to find Artemis and exact his vengeance. But instead he found Mal, and sensing his heritage, attacked, letting it spill that Mal was different. Since then, Mal began to question everything. The other at Camp Jupiter had sensed it too.

Mal had just finished cleaning out the Trojan horses stable with Andrea and Kyle. "Hey, Bro." I leaned on the doorframe. The sun was setting in the window.

Mal looked back and smiled. "Hey, sis. Supper almost ready?"

I nodded. "Pholus is making Spaghetti."

"Good, Good." Mal sighed and beat the mud on his shoes into his trash can.

"You ok?" I asked.

Mal leaned back his head and sighed. "I don't know. It's just, three weeks ago; I was a roman soldier in Camp Jupiter, a member of the Third Cohort, protector of New Rome." Mal rubbed his arm, where his tattoos had once been. Ollie had erased them to better protect him. "Now, I am a forbidden demigod, in a school that doesn't exist, that is a target for some unknown enemy. I just don't, well, it's just weird, being here and all."

I laughed. "Hey we're children of Artemis…"

"Diana."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. We don't like to play by the rules."

Mal laughed. "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

The dinner bell rang over the intercom. Kids came inside, exhausted from work. I ran down and almost flattened Thomas. "Hey, girl! Don't kill me so soon!" he joked. He had just came in from border patrol with the Spartoi. The Spartoi were just behind us, joking loudly with each other. Even undead warriors want to eat.

I pushed Thomas in the arm. "Ow." He gasped, clutching his arm jokingly.

"Wimp." I stuck out my tongue. "How was Nessus hunting?"

Thomas frowned and shook his head. "The bastard never stays close for long. And ever monster I find that can talk just yells 'Hail the Masked Queen' and kill themselves. Kekrops said he may have something, so we going to meet him after supper."

I nodded. We headed in and grabbed our food. We sat, ate, and talked mainly about nonsense. Mal came to join us. Thomas checked in on how he was doing. He felt kinda bad for pressing a knife against his throat. Just behind us, the Spartoi erupted in laughter over some kind of battle or massacre or something gory and bloody.

After supper, the others disappeared to their own corners of the school, the guys and Spartoi had basketball game in the gym and Andrea and Ally had taken the other kids out to a nearby town with Pholus for some ice cream. Thomas and I, however, met with Kekrops and Ollie in Kekrops study.

Kekrops study was just like his old one at Harvard, except bigger and cluttered with more crap. Ollie was sharping a knife in on the other side the desk. He hadn't shaved since we met him so his moustache turned into a full on Greek style beard. Kekrops himself was doing the exact same thing he was doing when we first met him too, grading papers.

Kekrops looked up and gestured to the other two chairs. "Bella, Thomas, please sit."

I plopped down in the soft leather chair. Thomas said. "Heard you got news, Professor."

Kekrops put down his pen and took off his wire rim glasses. He grabbed a laser pointer and aimed it a map of the school and surrounding area. Our school was in the middle of a flat basin surrounded by five mountains on all sides but one where the access road came through.

"More than you think, Thomas." He said. "These mountains. We knew Nessus is using them to hide his forces. Our borders end at the foot of the mountains. If we can convince the local _ourae_ to help protect the school, we can flush him out for good."

"_Ourae_?" I asked.

"Mountain gods." Thomas explained. "How do we convince the _ourae_ to help us?"

"I've known these_ ourae_ since the sixteen hundreds." Ollie said "Good folks, a bit wild though. Not like most of their kin. Shouldn't take too long to convince them to help if folks in trouble. I'll head out tomorrow, see if they can see our way."

Thomas nodded. "Might help, but there's an army gathering out there."

Kekrops smiled. "I am still king of the _gemini_. That should give us the extra forces we need for now."

"Wait, you're a King?" I questioned, eyebrows raised. "Why were you teaching at Harvard then?"

Kekrops shook his head. "Long story. But after the Second Giant War, I moved my people here to America, under one intention, to help again, like we once did. But we _gemini_ number in our thousands and if there is one thing we're good at, it's fighting and caves, and the mountains have plenty of those. My people should be right at home."

"That's why you live in basement." I concluded. Thomas and Ollie laughed.

"Ok, so that solves our border issues, what about this Masked Queen?" Thomas pressed. "What have you found out about her?"

Kekrops sighed. "I talked to the three Hyperborean High Priests. Many of their kin have joined this Masked Queen. So have many ancient monster and spirits. Many monstrous tribes and people like the Laistrygonian Army, not random loose clans that served Kronos and Porphyrion. Also newer monsters, betrayed gods and mortals. But we now know where they are gathering. Where the gods have no power. The Labyrinth."

Ollie stopped whittling. Thomas threw his hands in the air and huffed.

"Really? Really?!" Thomas fumed. "The Labyrinth! The one that is super dangerous and playground for gruesome and horrible deaths. That Labyrinth?"

"It won't be easy, but if we can cut the head of the snake, these attacks will stop." Kekrops reasoned. "Nessus is only a contract killer. Killing Nessus won't fix the problem for long. This Masked Queen is determined to wipe us out, but we still can't figure why. I believe the best way to figure that out is to be direct and ask."

Thomas huffed. "I still don't like it. Going down is at least a three man mission. And plus where would we look?"

Ollie coughed. "I know where a nearby entrance is. In the back part of Cacus's old cave…"

"Gross." I interrupted

"And you may want to find Amphiarus. He's the oracle of the underground world, keeps tabs of everyone down there. If there is an army hiding out down there, he'll know about it." Ollie finished.

Kekrops nodded. "Excellent. Hopefully we can find this queen before she takes over the world." Kekrops looked at Thomas. "How do you want to take with you and Bella?"

"Wait? Why me?" I asked.

"Because out everyone here, we are the best." Thomas explained. I still didn't feel better. "I want to take Malcolm, Nick and Kayla. Malcolm has Roman training, which will be useful. Nick with his night vision and Kayla with her earth powers might save us if we run into something to dangerous."

"Not Eric?" Ollie pointed out.

Thomas shook his head. "No, I needed him here, just in case. I'll tell them at lights out."

I raised my hand. "Um, isn't the Labyrinth a maze that no one can navigate? How do you suppose we can navigate it?"

Kekrops slithered out from behind his desk and started digging through a pile in a corner until he pulled a white old ball of yarn. He tossed it Thomas, who looked at it and chuckled.

"Adrianne's Clue." He said. "Of course you have it. Well, I guess we have all we need, let's go find an oracle. In the morning though."

"Very good." Kekrops said. "Everyone get ready, your adventure begins at dawn's light."


	9. Chapter 9

Thomas

I hated it when the Orenios decided to show up and ruined my sleep. Honestly I wanted a good night sleep before we left for the Labyrinth.

After our meeting with Kekrops, we told the others of our mission. Kayla looked shocked to be picked, but agreed to come all the same. Eric was kinda mad that he couldn't come but he got over it, thinking of our little defenses. Nick and Malcolm were ready to go right then and there, especially Nick. I told them to get ready for a month's journey and get a goodnight's sleep. Unfortunately I didn't get one.

I drifted off, my dreamscape shifting once again to the underground throne room. It changed since I saw it three weeks ago, well dreamt it really. The throne was placed higher up on a black stone primitive pyramid. The desk was converted to two side tables, still piled high with maps and books. The Masked Queen sat on the throne, petting a large German shepherd with pure golden fur, more than likely it was actual gold. Its moonlight silver eyes gave the impression that wasn't a normal house pet, it was an attack dog.

The throne room itself was more crowded with more monsters. In one corner of the room, several _syrbotai, _twelve foot tall African tribesmen were talking to a Laistrygonian giant wearing a cape of what looked like human hide and a golden crown. By the Laistrygonian's side, two Laistrygonian women, if you could call them that, were checking their weapons. In the midst of the throne room, I recognized the witch Medea herself talking with Aegis and a fifteen foot tall giant man over a map of New York. A fountain in the middle of the table was being used for a series of strange looking Iris Messages with humans, satyrs and monsters. There were other strange monsters talking and discussing world domination, like the extremely muscular guys with their faces on their chests, who were bartering with centaurs.

Just then the chamber doors swung wide open and a dozen Cyclops barged in. They were carrying a large obsidian black stone between them. White starry mist steamed off the rock. The Masked Queen rose to her feet and beckoned for the Cyclops to come forward. They set down the rock just before the throne's stairs.

"Halimedes." The Masked Queen said. "I see you have completed the task I gave you."

Halimedes, the largest of the Cyclops, grinned. His black charcoal skin nearly made me lose him in the dark room. He cracked his large hairy knuckles. "It was hard to find, my Queen. But we unearthed it under the ruins of the old Mount Oryths."

The Masked Queen walked down off her throne, her dog in tow. She walked the perimeter of the rock, feeling the edge of the stone. "Get to work immediately. Tell Trachius and Elatreus to speed up their weapon production, half of my army isn't even properly supplied to take on satyrs. " Halimedes nodded and gestured for the other Cyclops to move out with the strange rock.

After the Cyclops had left, a fifty year old man with well trimmed beard, wearing a black blazer over a white button down shirt and jeans approached the throne. Behind him were two military type men, with arms like pythons and stone cold faces, flanking the older man like bodyguards? Swords larger than any I ever seen before were strapped to their backs. The Masked Queen acknowledged the old man. "What is it, Laocoon?"

"They are coming for you, just like I promised." Laocoon said. "_When the remnants of armies gather, The out casted demigods will band together, Then there will be the secret war…"_

The Masked Queen raised her hand to cut him off. "I know the prophecy, seer." I have heard of seers. A long time ago, a few mortals had the gift of prophecy; the most famous was the Oracle of Delphi, but seers hadn't been seen since ancient Rome. The Masked Queen reached down and petted her dog. "What can you tell me about Prometheus little band of Demigods? Is _he_ coming?"

Laocoon looked flustered, like he was afraid of making the Masked Queen angry. He cleared his throat, sounding like he had been smoking for a long time. "Yes, my queen. Your old foe. They plan to turn the mountains themselves against us. Also they have launched an expedition to find the Argive Seer. If they find him, he will tell them where we are."

The Masked Queen laughed. "It doesn't matter. But tell Nessus to pull back anyway. And make sure they can't find the Argive Seer, Laocoon, by any means necessary. And take the snakes with you, they are getting restless."

Laocoon bowed and left, his giant bodyguards in tow. He signaled for the centaurs to follow as well.

Before I could get any more information, I woke up with a jolt. Kekrops stood in the doorway on his snake body, knocking on the frame. It had to be only five in the morning.

"Time to go, big day." He said. "Ollie has already spoken to _ourae_, so you should have safe passage up to the cave."

"Should?" I asked as put on my army jacket and hiking boots.

Kekrops shrugged. "Well, don't expect everything to go as planned. This is the New Labyrinth; it's twice as deadly and treacherous as the old one."

"I know." I replied, throwing on my backpack "The others up yet?" I asked, heading out the door.

Kekrops followed close behind. "Waiting for you in the cafeteria. Good luck, Thomas. Come back safe."

I shook Kekrops hand. "We will." I said and Kekrops slithered away. In the cafeteria, the others were eating their breakfast like a last supper. Even Pholus looked at us like this was the last time he was going to see us. Breakfast was a hot egg and cheese muffins, which I scarfed down about half a dozen.

I sat down next to Bella and Nick. Bella was the only one who looked somewhat cheerful. "Everyone ready?" I asked.

The other's nodded grimly. Nick's mechanical arm parts buzzed and whirled whenever he got nervous. Mal had determined look on his face, like any good Roman should, but Kayla seemed the most scared. She had only been here a week and was worried about leaving her little brother, but determined to protect him, so she agreed to go.

Nick stopped eating for a moment. "We have any idea where to start looking?"

I swallowed, "Supposed to be looking for this sub terrain oracle, can tell us where the Masked Queen is. Name's Amphiarus. Hopefully when we find him, he won't kill us."

Kayla's eyes widened in fear. "Why would he kill us?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, hope he won't, but the fact is that it won't be easy finding him, even with this." I held up Adrianne's Clue. "Be ready for anything."

Everyone nodded and wrapped up eating. Grabbing our backpacks and weapons, we left for the Labyrinth entrance. The rest of the kids and the Spartoi had woken up early, gathered at the front door, waiting for us. As soon as they saw us, they started clapping and cheering, like we were returning heroes. Kyle ran up, crying and hugged Kayla. The younger kids followed his lead and gave all us hugs. Ellie and Tyler, the son of the Titan Atlas, wrapped their arms around my legs, weighing me down. I smiled and tried to peel them off. Andrea came over and gathered the kids. She looked she hadn't slept in days, but she lived with six toddlers, so I understood.

The other kids told us to be safe and kick monster ass. Some even shook our hands and hugged us. Eric asked where we would like to be buried. I told him in the basement.

After we finished saying our goodbyes, the five of us made the trek to Cacus's cave. They kept on clapping and cheering as we disappeared under the first light of the morning. We took the same two hour trek we made the first time round, except we took our time, keeping watch for any monsters that may come out of the woods.

As we grew closer to the cave, the smell had not gone away. It had dulled some, but it still smelled like a hundred rotting corpses. Nick bent down and puked. Malcolm, a trained Roman soldier, bent down and joined him.

"Come on." I urged. "Only gets worse from here."

Mal gave me a thumb up. "Thanks for the encouragement."

As we followed the trail south, we found the cave entrance. Immediately, my danger radar went off like a fog horn. Something was off. I slowed our approach to the cave and signaled for the others to use caution. I examined the cave entrance. The bones had moved. We didn't move them when we last saw the cave. The dirt around the cave was tracked with thousands different kinds of prints, including hooves.

I stopped us just outside the cave entrance. Bella ran over to my side, her bow in her hand. The others grabbed their weapons, Nick his bow, Malcolm a Lunar Silver _gladius_, and Kayla lifted two large spiked stones in the air. Bella asked. "What is it?"

"Kekrops said that these guys are using the Labyrinth as a hideout." I explained.

Bella frowned, not liking where I was going with this. "And it isn't a coincidence that this is the only Labyrinth entrance in miles."

I turned to others. "Watch yourselves. Nessus may have pulled out of here, but I doubt they would have left the cave unguarded."

Bella raised her eyebrows "How do you know Nessus pulled out?"

"I saw it in a dream." I explained and motioned for the others moved out into the cave. It still smelled pretty terrible. The inside was cleared out, but paper litter and meal wrappings covered the floor. Even monsters went out for Mickey Dees sometimes. The thought made my head spin but I focused on the here and now. I twirled a dice in my hand, just in case.

Out of nowhere, something fast and strong body slammed me, knocking the wind out of me, making it hard to even gasp. I hit the cold stone floor with a sharp, supremely painful, crack, pain lightning through my spine. I dropped my dice and I began to change.

My body elongated and thickened, along my neck and face. A long black mane sprouted out of my neck. My legs and arms stretched while my hands and feet hardened and compacted into hooves. My clothes and backpack shrunk into my body and short black fur sprouted all along my body. My stomach churned like there was fire inside of it. My mouth and nostrils had heated up as well as flames flickered out. I had turned into a fire breathing horse.

I rose to my feet, ur, hooves, ready to face whatever attacked me, but the others were fighting them to. There were three of them, _Scythian Dracaena_, except with on notable difference. They were male. Most _Scythian Dracaena_ I have ever seen were female, I didn't think there were any male _Dracaena_, but these three proved me wrong.

If it wasn't for the bottom, snake trunk legs, I would have thought we're getting attacked by college students. They looked to be twenty; each had close cropped ebony hair and a deep bronze tan. They were all well-built, like Marines. The only difference between them was one wielded a spear, another and large battle axe and a roman red tower shield, and the smallest of the three wielded twin ivory hunting daggers.

Bella and Nick were taking on the ax wielder, firing arrow after arrow. The _Scythian_ _Dracaena_ was blocking each shot with his shield. His axe was probably too heavy for him because he was swinging it too widely to even hit Bella and Nick.

The dagger _Dracaena _was the most skilled, parrying with Malcolm's _gladius_ with ease. He was just toying with Mal, savoring the fight, but Mal knew what he was doing. Kayla was one having the most trouble with the spear wielder.

I reared on my back legs, flames bellowing out my nostrils, and charged the spear wielder. Kayla was using a stone club to fend him off. Her one week of intense training under Ollie was paying off, but the_ Dracaena_ was better.

The spear wielder saw me coming and jumped away, standing between us and one of the back tunnels. Kayla launched a boulder the size of my head, but he deflected it with the tip of his spear.

The other two broke off from their fights and flanked either side of the first one. The axe wielder broke off silver and Stygian Iron arrows from his shield and pulled one from his shoulder, like it was nothing. The dagger _Dracaena _smiled, enjoying the fight.

I stepped forward, flicking my black mane and staring down the _Dracaena_. Flames erupted out of nostrils. They weren't even scared. Figured.

"Move." I neighed, which would never feel right using a horse's mouth to talk.

The spear wielder laughed. "Don't think so, Sea Biscuit."

I huffed, flames spewing from my mouth at the _Scythian Dracaenas_' feet. They didn't even flinch. "I am the son of Tartarus." I boasted. "I can make sure you rot there for an eternity."

They laughed, as if I was joking. "You can try, but our dad is Hercules himself, the greatest hero ever!" the spear wielder bragged. He flexed his muscles. "I am Scythes, and these are my brothers Agathyrsos and Gelenos." He gestured to the ax wielder and dagger wielder. Gelenos grinned at the sound of his own name. "Not even the son of Tartarus himself can beat the sons of Hercules."

"I don't care." I said bluntly. "Just get out of the way and you can keep on living."

Scythes sneered, angry. He gripped his spear a bit harder. "You're not getting it. Our mother, Hora, helped Dad steal the cattle of Geyron. And in return, we were born. No one has even beaten us. Not even our little brother could. We are more famous than even Ole Dad himself."

I neighed again, this time as a laugh. Scythes had given away his Achilles heel. "Then how come I never heard you?"

That did it. Monsters are very egotistical, and down falling that ego can be useful. And in this case, Scythes lost it and charged, spear first, without any thought to his own defense. I reared back my head, and blasted a stream of flames. Scythes spear fell to the floor with a loud clank. He vaporized instantly, without even a scream.

Agathyrsos and Gelenos glanced at each other nervously, losing their grip on their weapons. I stepped forward, flames erupting from my nostrils again. The _Dracaena_ dropped their weapons and fled into one of the back tunnels as fast as possible.

My body transformed back to human, the fire leaving a spicy dry taste in my mouth. The others holstered their weapons. "Well that was different." Malcolm noticed.

Bella pointed at the tracks. "At least they lead us straight to Labyrinth entrance."

I nodded and we all followed Bella down a winding tunnel. The tunnel expanded as we continued, big enough for an eighteen wheeler. Most of the tunnel walls were cut too uniform to be natural. It must have been hollowed out to fit incoming and outgoing armies.

The tunnel must have stretched for about a half a mile before we came to a red brick circular opening as wide as a truck. Mold and cobwebs clung to the fringes of the opening. Just above the door, a glowing blue _eta_, the Greek letter for H, was pulsing dimly, like it was slowly being drained off life.

"Here we are." I noted. The others marveled at the entrance. The Labyrinth corridor was lined with old medieval torches as far as I could see. I couldn't make out the end.

I turned back to others. "No turning back now. There be monsters here."

Bella gave me an unamused glare. "Very funny."

The rest of us laughed anyway. I tensed up, grabbing the hilt of my sword. I couldn't use my dice yet, it took about six hours for them to recharge, even though I had two. I calmed my mind and went first into the Labyrinth.

I grabbed Adriane's Clue out of my backpack and held it up. I thought about Amphiarus, finding him. Somehow the Clue was mentally asking me if I had any more information, about Amphiarus, his life, who he was, where he might be. I only knew that he was an oracle and he was underground. The Clue didn't seem happy with that information, but worked with it anyway. It started to glow a dim hazy white steam. Strings of dim light twirled around the Clue like ghost tentacles. One of strings shot down the corridor, lining the floor with a hazy glowing line.

"This just gets weirder and weirder." Kayla muttered.

We followed the string line down the tunnel. The tunnel itself changed, from brick to gray cement. The halls echoed with muffled screams and cries for help. It took everything I had, to keep it together. The others jittered with nervousness. A few random bones lined the floor every once in a while, but I couldn't tell if they belonged to a human or animal.

An animalistic roar echoed down the tunnel, but not any animal I ever heard. Kayla jumped out of her skin, knocking back into Nick. "Careful!"

"Sorry." Kayla muttered. "Never figured one day I would be looking for a prophet in the actual Labyrinth, which was full of things that want to kill me."

"This isn't the actual Labyrinth." I corrected.

"What?" Nick asked, sweeping his obsidian black hair out of his eyes.

"The actual Labyrinth was connected to the life force of its builder, Daedalus. Daedalus managed to live as an Automaton for a couple thousand years, but killed himself to shut down the Labyrinth about seven years ago." I explained.

"So what are we standing in?" Bella asked nervous.

"This is the New Labyrinth, created by the witch Pasiphae. She helped create the first one but this one was created only four years during the giant war by Pasiphae. This one is more dangerous than the first, and first one was a nightmare all on its one." I replied.

"Oh goody, if I was scared enough." Mal said. "Excuse me, I got change pants."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on; let's find this oracle before something else finds us."

I spoke to soon. Down the hall behind us, someone screamed, loudly. I recognized the scream, form three weeks ago, when the Leukrokotta attack. I ran back down the hall, sword out. The entrance had disappeared entirely, replaced by a large brick rotunda. Several shadowy doorways lined the exterior. An ancient black chandelier hung from the ceiling, the candles burning brightly.

In the center of the rotunda, Ally had followed us into the cave, but she wasn't alone. She was wrapped in the coils of a large copper scaled python, more than fifteen feet long. The head of the snake was spiked with ivory horns along the edges of head. The eyes were bright golden slits. The snake flicked his silver tongue into the air, hissing.

Beside the copper snake was another one, even longer, with blood red scales and black horns. His tail ended with a bronze rattle, spike with a stinger like tip. The red snaked hissed menacingly, showing off night black fangs as long my sword. The bright red eyes gleamed with hate.

Out of one of the corridors, an old man in a black blazer and a well trimmed pepper and salt beard stepped out, laughing flanked by his bodyguards on either side.

"I knew this one would follow you." he said, shaking his head. "I can see these sorts of things, being a seer and all."

"Laocoon." I seethed.

The old man laughed. "So you heard of me. That's good. But did here what happened to me? How Poseidon himself sent sea serpents to kill me and my sons when I learned that the Trojan horse was a trick?" Laocoon's demeanor changed to very angry in matter of seconds. The men behind him sneered at the mention of Poseidon. Those must have been his sons. "All I wanted to do save Troy, to save my city, but the gods betrayed me, just like Cadmus and his wife here."

He nodded to the two snakes. I figured Cadmus had to be the bigger one. Laocoon continued his ranting. "All Cadmus did was save his people, defeated the Theban Dragon, created the first Spartoi, but Ares cursed him and his wife, turning them into monsters, just for killing his dragon son." Laocoon stopped, pointing a finger at us. "You can't stop us, demigods. I don't care about that stupid prophecy, and neither does the Masked Queen. We will reshape the world in our image. And even you cannot stop us."

I raised my sword. "What prophecy? Why is the Masked Queen attacking us?"

Laocoon smiled again. "It doesn't matter; you will be to dead to learn it. And we have even captured that fool Amphiarus. No need for him spilling our secrets." Laocoon snapped his fingers and the snakes attacked.


End file.
